


Light Me Up

by Itsabattle_cry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 01:36:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2410223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsabattle_cry/pseuds/Itsabattle_cry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Styles transferred to Avalon Academy Boarding School looking for a change. His new life comes with new friends he soon realizes have a reputation for making some noise. Harry learns he's taken the place of Zayn Malik, who was expelled the year before. Harry becomes comfortable in his new life only to learn Zayn may not be as gone as everyone had expected. Harry's not sure this was the change he was looking for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Zayn isn't in this chapter but this is a Zarry based fic
> 
> Very, very, very, very loosely based off of The It Girls series by that lady who also wrote Gossip Girl. 
> 
> Title from Light Me Up by The Pretty Reckless
> 
> No beta any mistake are my own

The subtle vibrations and gentle hum of the train was slowly lulling Harry to relax enough into a sleep he had been diligently fighting off. He barely slept the night before, too nervous with a little mix of excitement. Starting a new school, Avalon Academy, was the fresh start Harry new he needed. The landscape passing by through his window was mainly farmland for the first half of the trip. Harry stared out as the sun slowly slid higher and higher from the horizon, changing the grey morning sky to a soft orange glow. All Harry could think about was whether or not this change would be for the better, or if it wouldn't change a thing. At his last school, Harry became so quickly caught up in the student politics and drama. The price to pay for a school for future moguls and politicians. He knew his new school wouldn't be all too different, the tuition for this school costing most people from his old school an arm and a leg and maybe a liver if they wanted a decently located dorm.

That was something Harry kept reminding himself. At the end of the school day he wouldn't be returning to his parents but rather his own dorm that he would share with a roommate. Louis. Harry had received all his accommodation information during the middle of summer break. His roommate questionnaire told him his match was Louis Tomlinson. He was a year older but judging from his Twitter account, harmless enough. Most of his tweets consisted of football stats and play-by-plays. They spoke often and seemed to get along although Harry didn't have the first clue about football. 

Harry didn't know much about sports in general and that was another thing about Avalon, they required every student to participate in a sport. Harry narrowed it down to either tennis or track, either way he wasn't going to make it out unscathed. But he didn't have to make up his mind until the last week of September. Harry heard the ping of his phone notifying he received a text. He lifted his hips to retrieve his phone from his back pocket then opened his phone to his messages. It was a 'miss you already' text from his mother. He had only been gone for a few hours but he knew it was killing his mother not to drive him down to the academy herself.

The only problem with taking the trip down with his parents was just that, it would be a car ride with his parents. If his mother drove, his father would have insisted on going as well and they had never really gotten along. Not even after they divorced and didn't have to see each other all the time. They could be civilized but not for a four hour drive. Besides, Harry wanted the quiet train ride to himself to mentally prepare himself. He could easily excite himself into an anxiety attack and had before. It would have been no help with his parents in the front seat yelling at each other about the volume of the radio, or who should drive, or even deodorant like that one argument they had on the family vacation in Glasgow. That fight had escalated to the point where hotel security and management showed up to ask them to keep the volume down or they would be asked to leave, with no refund. 

Harry just wanted some peace and quiet to not think about how much could go wrong at his new school. While typing a quick 'miss you tooooooo' text back to his mother, Harry felt something drop down next to him. With a little jump, he looked to see a duffel bag had fallen from the overhead compartment.  
"Oh, sorry mate." A guy sitting on the other side of the isle said to Harry. He shrugged and mumbled that it was fine but the boy had spotted the folder with the school's emblem sticking out of Harry's backpack on the floor between his feet.  
"You go to Avie?"  
Harry raised an eyebrow at the boy. Not understanding what he meant.  
"Avalon Academy." He clarified.  
"Yeah, I'm a transfer." He couldn't stop the little smile that crept on his face.  
"Cool. I'm a few stops over at Genesis. We're technically enemies." The boy's conspired tone was one that Harry could confuse as flirting. Even though it was still very early in the morning, Harry decided a conversation with the boy wouldn't be the end of the world. He was attractive enough that Harry wouldn't mind a break from his thoughts.  
Harry assumed he meant the school rivalry between the two were between sports teams and not that he and the kid had an actual issue.  
In case the boy wasn't flirting, Harry stuck to neutral territory.  
"What sport do you play?"  
Before he answered, the boy moved his fallen bag to the floor and sat down next to Harry. But Harry still told himself it didn't mean anything. There were very few things that rivaled an athlete's passion for their sport so for all Harry new, this guy was just going to drone on and on about it.  
"Footy." The boy gave Harry a once over before asking, "And yourself?"  
Harry smirked as he internally congratulated himself on knowing a subtle flirt when he saw one. Before he could awkwardly explain his sporting situation, an announcement notified Harry he had reached his destination.  
"Sorry, that's me."  
The boy stood up as Harry gathered his things. He spared a passing thought if the boy would ask for his number. In the end he didn't but the boy did wink at him through the window of the train once Harry was standing on the platform.  
The train departed and Harry walked down a short flight of stairs that led to a parking lot where a car service would be waiting for him. 

Harry originally thought it would be awkward to show up with a driver but Louis had assured him that most students did. More so on the account of their parents being too busy with work or still overseas on vacation.  
"Mr. Styles?" Harry heard someone say. He looked around until he saw an aging man next to a sleek black town car. The man was dressed nicely in a crisp button down with a tie and black trousers, whatever was left of his thin, black hair slicked back.  
Harry hurried over to the man and shook his hand. The driver, Bernie, relieved him of his luggage and stored it in the boot. Harry sat in the back seat and got comfortable, glad Bernie wasn't the talking kind. Leaning his head back against the leather, he began to succumb to the exhaustion he was fighting off on the train because he was afraid he would accidentally miss his stop. 

The ride was short and when Harry opened his eyes, it was to the front gates of Avalon Academy. The insignia and initials of the academy proudly incorporated in the design of the wrought iron gate that allowed entrance. The whole school encased by a brick wall higher than anyone could possibly climb. Through the gates Harry could see black cars, much like his own, lined up to drop off the over-privileged, ungrateful students they no doubt carried inside. The first building he saw was a stone structure not unlike something he was sure he had seen in Harry Potter or Downton Abbey once. Harry new there were more buildings, although he could only spot two more off to the side of the main building.

He had studied the map because each of his six classes and his lunch period were all in different buildings. He hadn't been able to make the orientation because he, his mother, step-father, and sister had all spent two weeks at their seaside house in Wales. Harry smiled a little to himself remembering his vacation. Two weeks of debauchery, house parties in mansions where alcohol and drugs circulated as much as the air that was filled with weed and second hand smoke. Harry and his sister, Gemma always made a bet to see who could get more boys' numbers. Harry usually lost, and did this time as well but noticed that there were more guys that weren't opposed to a one off thing. And for that Harry was more than grateful. Harry remembered finding a nice boy who he convinced to take daddy's yacht for a quick spin until the water police drug them back to shore. Later that night, the boy had snuck Harry in to his room. Harry showed him just how apologetic he was for getting him in trouble when he dropped to his knees for him. The kid wasn't the most impressive size Harry had ever seen and once he had finished him off, instead of returning the favor, the boy had claimed he heard a door slam and snuck Harry back out of his bedroom window. Harry didn't hear a door slam and assumed it was only because they kid was in the closet. Harry had been there and done that and wanted nothing to do with it. Anyway, that was only the second day there. 

But now, summer was over and he would begin this school year with a blank slate. Harry's mother had threatened if he didn't take this school seriously there would be a deep cut in his inheritance. Not that that was the only reason, Harry really did want to do well for himself. His only struggle being he was easily distracted. By just about anything.  
The car began to slowly creep up to the main building and with a deep breath, Harry tried to expel the feelings of intimidation and overwhelming anxiety. He ran his hands through his hair and let it fall to one side. His mother had begged him to cut it, or at the very least trim it, but he was on a mission for a bun. And he was almost there, just a few pieces of hair that wouldn't stay in place but he knew in a few more weeks he would be sporting a full on man bun. 

Once he was close enough to the front building, Harry opened his car door and stepped out. The surrounding trees made the air fresh and the cool breeze calmed Harry some. There were students all around gathering their belongings and hugging parents and relatives good bye. Harry thanked Bernie as the man handed him his luggage. With another handshake, Bernie was off and left Harry rooted in his spot on the sidewalk. All the studying didn't do Harry any good because in that second, his mind blanked.  
Looking around at all the unfamiliar faces, Harry quickly realized that he was now responsible for himself. His parents weren't there to point him in the right direction. If he got in trouble this time, it wouldn't fall back on his parents, rather himself. He couldn't rely on his parents to clean up his mess.  
Running his hand through his hair once more, Harry began to walk to the entrance of the main building, which he could now see was named Larrington Hall. Inside, the foyer had a marble covered floor and a high dome ceiling that amplified the chattering voices of excited students who were lining up behind three desks. Each desk had an assigned cluster of letters.  
"A to I, at table one! J to R, table two! S to Z, table three! Get in the correct line please!" A frazzled woman shouted over the noise of the students. Her button down was close to untucking from her pleated skirt. She had wisps of hair falling in her face from her up-do. She held a clipboard in her hand and appeared to have been wearing a headset. Harry felt sympathetic towards the woman, she looked like she was one second away from quitting her job. 

Harry didn't know what he was lining up for but did anyway just because he didn't know what else to do. On line at the third table, Harry was just taking in his surroundings when the purse that the girl in front of him was gripping on her shoulder for dear life fell to the floor. 

"God damn it!" The girls shoulders dropped and so did the other bags she piled on her shoulder. She raised her hands and shouted, "Anything else?!"  
Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the poor girl. She jerked her head towards him. Her face was exasperated but she broke out into a smile as well. Harry bent over to help her retrieve her bags.

"Thank you. My brother took my big luggage and left me with all the little ones."  
Harry laughed then. "You're welcome. It might be easier if you do this."  
Harry stacked the smaller bags and secured the handles over the handle of her medium sized wheeled luggage. That way, she could just roll all of her luggage instead of struggle to carry them all. The girl looked at him as if he was crazy. 

"You've got to be kidding me." Her face was confused and for a second Harry thought she was genuinely offended. But then she laughed and covered her face with her hands. "Sorry, it's not you." She dropped her hands, face red from laughing, and probably embarrassment. "Well! I'm obviously stupid."

Harry saw his opportunity and took it. "Hi, Stupid. I'm Harry!" With his biggest, dimpled smile, Harry extended his hand to her.  
She took with another round of laughter. "Oh God. That's not funny, I'm just laughing because I've slept not even four hours in the past two nights. I'm delirious."

"Nope. You laughed. I'm taking it." He smiled down to her. 

"Whatever. Well, my real name is Jennifer. Are you a freshman? I've never seen you here before."

"No, I'm a junior. I just transferred." The lined moved forward. There was only one more person in line before it was Jennifer's turn. 

"Cool, from where?"

"Hudson." Jennifer's eyes bulged slightly. Hudson had a reputation where Harry was from. And apparently it traveled all the way down to the outskirts of London as well. A reputation of enrolling no one whose parents made less than a sickening amount of money per year. A reputation for only accepting families of old money, which was an exception in Harry's case. But his step-father's name was in the papers often enough that Hudson had granted him a scholarship. However Hudson's most preceding reputation was that the students were complete animals. As long as they kept their grades up, they could do whatever they wanted. And that meant whatever. It was a notorious party school, and due to the societal position of the parents, many times the actions of the students caught the media's attention.  
Before Jennifer could say anything else, the person in front of her moved aside and the woman sitting behind the desk asked for the next in line. 

"Jennifer Tomlinson." Harry caught the surname and wondered if she had any relation to Louis. Tomlinson wasn't all too common surely there had to be some connection. She did mention a brother. 

"As if I needed your name, sweetheart." The woman joked with a smile. Jennifer laughed along and was handed a few papers. 

"What's all this Professor?"

"Computers went down the other night. Almost fixed except the email. Had to print all the student's schedules, room assignments and such." She responded with a look on her face. A look that gave away that she was not getting paid enough for this. Although, in reality, she technically was. The professor looked over Jennifer's shoulder and smiled to Harry.

"Name, dear?"  
Harry cleared his throat with a cough. "Harry Styles."  
Jennifer looked up from her paper. "Louis' roommate?" 

"Oh dear, my boy. Run for your life." The professor flipped through a stack of stapled papers until she found Harry's. She skimmed the page. "Yes. Right here, Louis Tomlinson is your roommate. God speed." She joked handing Harry his papers. Or at least Harry hoped she was joking. Jennifer and Harry walked behind the desks where there were doors on the other side of the foyer leading outside. Walking in the direction of the dorms, Harry looked back to Jennifer.

"Your brother is Louis?" Louis didn't mention a sister. In fairness, he didn't ask either. They mainly spoke about general things. Louis even admitted he didn't like speaking too much through text. 

"Yeah, he's my twin brother actually. Older by ten minutes, though he'll try to argue it was fifteen." Jennifer rolled her eyes. 

"He came down yesterday to unpack. That's when I noticed all the bloody luggage missing. The bastard will wear the same shirt for a week straight but insist he needs four large suitcases for all of his things."

"Sounds like my sister. Are you living near us then?"  
Jennifer shook her head. "Dorms are all boy, all girl only. Each dormitory building is separated the same. First floor-freshman, second- sophomores, third floor is for juniors, except in your case I guess, and fourth for seniors. Their rooms are always bigger and nicer. You have a bathroom in your suite as opposed to a communal one like the other floors."

"Why is it that I'm with Louis then if all the grades are separate?"  
Jennifer shrugged then tilted her head in thought. "Maybe because Louis' roommate last year was expelled right before break. Not many people can get into this school so everywhere else was probably filled. When things like that happen they tend to want to avoid mixing freshmen and seniors together. You know since, once the seniors are 18 they're allowed to have a specific amount on alcohol in their rooms. Normally they give rooms to students that have been here first then fit transfers where they can."  
Harry nodded along. He only transferred at the beginning of summer break. Freshmen acceptance letters went out as early as December before Christmas. "Yeah that makes sense."

"So what about you? Why move from Hudson to here?"  
Harry didn't know how to put it. He told his friends at home it was because he wanted a change of pace. In reality, he had gotten in so much trouble over the course of one semester the dean had advised that it 'Probably is for the best you do not return' which was his way of expelling him. Only the dean and the board was immune to the reputation Hudson held unless it was thrown in their face, as it was with Harry's behavior. He was embarrassed to admit the truth because that would reiterate Hudson's shitty reputation which he carried with him. So instead he went for not so much as a lie, as Harry saw it, more so as a diplomatic response.

"I wanted something different and away from home. I couldn't stand seeing the same people and feel like I was getting no where."  
Jennifer scoffed. "Here's not too much different. Different faces but same arseholes with money falling out the pockets of their designer jeans. Same sense of entitlement."

"I figured as much. But I just had to leave. Felt suffocated. Plus, closer to London from here." London was only twenty minute tube ride. Students were only allowed into the city on weekends from 9 a.m-9 p.m. 

"Yeah that gets a lot of hype around here. On a school days everyone barely make it out of bed. Come Saturday morning they're practically lined up at the gates."  
They came to halt in front of another stone building with vines crawling through the cracks of the stone. It made the building look dated but not in a bad or ugly way. The building kind of look like a piece of history. 

"This is Whitman Hall. Where you'll be living. Louis' room is up the elevator all the way to the right. There are whiteboards on each door, for today at least it should have the names of whosever room it is. Trust me you won't miss yours."

"What you can't even go inside?"

"No I can, I just have to get rid of all my stuff first. We're all only allowed to be in each other's common room from 10- 4 in the afternoon. No one listens and the monitors are easily persuaded." Jennifer smiled as if she had done that a thousand times. 

"Anyway, tell Louis I'll be 'round later."

They parted and Harry ventured inside. The small parlor had a desk with man, not much older than Harry, sitting behind it with his feet resting on top of the desk.

"Hey, I'm Cash the DA, you are?"

Harry cleared his throat. "Um, Harry." After a beat he added. "Styles."

Cash wrote Harry's name down on a paper. "Okay. So basically when you walk in you check in with me. It's just so I know who's coming and going. Systems are still down here so I just have to write it down for now."

Harry nodded his agreement and was directed to the elevators. The fourth floor was chaos. Boys were chasing each other in and out of rooms. The doors were all open. Clothes and shoes and even a wastebasket was being thrown into each others rooms. Harry carefully wove his way down the hall, narrowly avoiding being hit in the face by a hanger. 

The only door that was shut was the last door on the right, which Harry noticed had his and Louis' name written on a white board. Along with a wide variety of different sized penises. Harry wasn't sure whether or not to knock. But he reasoned that it was in fact his room so he should walk in. But then he also thought maybe Louis wasn't decent and that's why the door was shut. But then he thought maybe Louis wasn't in the room at all and that was the real reason the door was shut. Before Harry could process that he was actually only stalling himself out of nerves, the door swung open and Harry came face to face with Louis. Or who he thought was Louis. His icon on Twitter was of the back of his jersey proudly displaying the number 17.  
Louis jumped back and held a hand over his chest.

"Jesus Christ! What're you doing just standing there!"

Harry smiled nervously and mumbled. "Um-uh, sorry. Was gonna knock."

Louis stared at him, much like his twin did, with a confused expression. "Why? It's your room too, innit?"

"Uh- um, yeah. I mean yeah it is." Harry stumbled over himself. 

"Right then! Come in, make yourself at home." Louis opened the door wider and stepped to the side. Harry walked in but not before being pelted in the back with something. He didn't bother to turn around and see what. He could only imagine. 

"Right so, I already made up my side of the room. I'm warning you now I'm rather messy. You can borrow whatever, I'm not too picky about that sort of thing. We have our bathroom through the door there, the closet is on your side, it's split up into halves so we have equal space but I'm telling you now in a week's time it won't matter we'll be grabbing the first thing we see to get to class on time. We can basically wear whatever as long on we have that terrible blazer over it." Louis spoke rapidly, Harry almost couldn't keep up. Just nodded and said 'okay' every few seconds. Louis continued, "Yeah, Zayn and I practically became one person after living together. Neither of us could tell what was mine and what was his."

"Zayn you're old roommate?" Louis nodded. If Harry wasn't mistaken he look a little sad. "Yeah your sister told me he was expelled."

Louis' face scrunched up in confusion. "How do you know my sister?"

"Oh! Sorry, we met getting our schedules. Kind of chatted a bit on the way over."

Louis flung himself down onto his bed. "Yeah, well she really shouldn't talk about things she doesn't know about."  
Harry didn't really know how to respond. So instead he dropped his things down to the floor and sat on his bed. He saw that some of his boxes he had shipped over were stacked at the foot of his bed. Still taped up with his name scribbled on the sides. 

"She said she'll be over later."

"Probably will. She's over here a lot with her friends."

"You two get along?" Harry cringed at his attempt to have a conversation with Louis that wasn't awkward. Of course they got along, they were fucking twins.

If Harry thought things were awkward, Louis wasn't feeling the same way. He smiled softly as he spoke of his twin. 

"Yeah we do. Spend loads of time together. Even when she's annoying. I'm her big brother after all, by fifteen minutes."

Harry laughed at that. "She says ten."

"Well she wouldn't bloody know she wasn't born yet was she?!" Louis defended himself. It just made Harry laugh more. He felt more relaxed then he thought he would be. Which was great considering he was expecting the worst. He was expecting Louis to turn out to be a dick, or to have a shitty room. Neither were true. Louis was easy-going and the room was spacious and homey. They had two windows because their room was in the corner of the building. Two dressers but one desk. A bed on each side and a recliner in the corner. 

"So, Harry." Louis began, snapping Harry from his inspection. "What's your deal? You got a girlfriend or something? Won't have to worry about late night calls from the other side of the country, will I?"

Harry felt himself flush a bit and his stomach knot. He wasn't ashamed of his sexuality but he always found it uncomfortable because he didn't know how other people would react.That's something he hadn't thought about before transferring schools. Everyone knew he was gay where he was from. Here he would have to come out over and over again to all the people he would meet. But it was Louis and out of anyone on campus he had the most right to know. Just in case Harry had some late night friends over.

"Um, I'm not actually- you know, into girls."

If Harry anticipated any sort of negative reaction from Louis he didn't get one. What he got instead was an apology. 

"Sorry mate I shouldn't have assumed, my bad." Louis looked genuinely apologetic it caught Harry off guard. The knot in his stomach instantly uncoiled. 

"No, no, it's fine. Don't worry." As an after thought he added in a small voice, "Is that something- like are you okay with that? Sharing a room with me?" 

The knot was back. What if he wasn't and Harry had no where to stay? Would he be kicked out of the academy since there was no where else for him to go?

"Hey man, shut it, it has nothing to do with me. I just want good people around. Where you stick it has nothing to do with me."  
Harry laughed his obnoxiously loud laugh where he had to cover his mouth with both of his hands. His face reddened as he responded. 

"Well, thanks, I guess. I think I'm a good person."

"There we 'ave it, then. Beside, my last roommate, Zayn, was gay too. Only bothered me when I would wake up in the middle of the night to a little party going on in his bed. But then again it would have bothered me if it was a girl instead, you know what I mean?"  
Harry laughed along until he realized where he was sat. He quickly stood up and moved to the center of the room. Louis only laughed harder.

"Oh, come off it! They change the mattresses every year." Louis was still laughing so Harry didn't know whether or not to believe him. "I swear!"

"Shit!"

"Run!"

Harry and Louis heard from the hallway. A roar of moving feet sounded all down the hallway, accompanied by the slamming of doors.

"RA." Louis explained. "They do this every first day. For some reason they throw all their shit around and make a mess until the RA comes and puts an end to it."

"Why do they do it though?"

Louis looked up to the ceiling then down to his feet as he explained. "Well, I may, you know, instigate it, just a tad bit." After a moment, Louis added, "I'm basically the reason all the computer systems were shut down, too." As soon as Louis finished and before Harry could ask for an elaboration, the RA appeared in the open doorway. 

"Tommo?"

"Brett." Louis acknowledged the man. Brett gripped the door way and look slightly out of breath.

"Your graduation ceremony I am going to break out in song and dance. I may even cry."  
Louis just smiled. 

"Tell that to the other professors. You guys can do a flash mob!"

Brett looked like he was trying very, very hard to hold onto the little patience he had left. 

"I'm returning in an hour Tommo. I want this hall spotless, and the penises off all the damned white boards."  
Louis saluted Brett as he walked away, closing the door behind him. 

"On that note," Louis hopped off his bed and slid his shoes on. "I'm going to get something to eat, wanna join?"

Harry smiled and nodded. He could see all of his determined thoughts of a drama free, education centered school year fly right out of the window.


	2. 2

Settling into a routine proved to be difficult for Harry. Louis was always up to something. The kid's mind would be frightening if it weren't fascinating. Over the course of a week, Louis had managed to set a deer from the woods free in Green Hall, shut down the computer system again, and had even ordered male strippers for Brett the RA. The only way he had got away with it was because no one could actually prove any of it was him. He left a trail of crumbs from the woods to the back door of Green Hall, the door had a camera but Louis learned it didn't actually record. Most of the cameras didn't, which was lucky for Harry when Louis dared him to run naked through the courtyard the first night, for most of the dorm hall to see. Security had been making their rounds so Harry ended up hiding in a bush, naked for almost a half an hour. 

Niall, one of Louis' long time friends who lived in a room down the hall, was apparently a genius hacker that knew how to cover his tracks. Which helped Louis greatly when a not so flattering video was emailed to the dean right before school started. Niall had been hacking into the system for years but didn't anticipate a security update that shut down all systems when it sensed a threat to avoid information from being stolen. But before the systems shut down he had been able to retrieve the video. The second time Louis had Niall hack into the systems was just to fix his attendance after he slept through his alarm and missed his first class. Niall now saw the security system as a personal challenge and was working on bypassing it.

The strippers, well all Louis had to do was call and give the address. Brett almost quit that night. Brett almost killed Louis that night. Louis ran into the room with a look of pure terror on his face.  
"I found the line!" He screamed as he shut the door behind him. None of the doors had locks so Louis began to push the wooden dresser in front of the door. "I found the line and I fucking crossed it!"  
Harry looked up from his laptop screen. "What'ya mean?"  
"Male strippers! Brett! Jesus Christ, help me!" Louis was struggling, had only moved the dresser a few inches. Now that Harry had unpacked, his and Louis' things filled the closet and dressers. Louis was right, their clothing were all mixed together, Harry wasn't even too confident that the boxers he was lounging in were his. Harry helped move the dresser because really, what other options did he have?  
Brett arrived not even ten seconds after the dresser was set in place. 

"Louis! Open up I know it was you!" The dresser shook with the force of the knocking from the other side of the door. "As soon as I prove this was you, you have detention until Christmas!"

"You ordered strippers for Brett?!" Harry asked, throughly amused by his roommate. Louis shed his shirt and threw it somewhere behind him. He walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

"I may have. Can't really prove it when you anonymously order strippers." Louis explained through the bathroom door. 

"Tomlinson! Open the door!" The dresser rattled some more but didn't budge. "Harry? Open the door or it'll be detention for you both!"

Spending every waking moment out of classes with Louis had some effect on Harry. He didn't respond to Brett's threat, instead he went back to his bed. Harry got back under his covers, retrieved his laptop, and closed out of the porn he had been watching, clearly not going to be able to get any farther with Louis now back in the room. He wondered how far from campus those strippers had gotten.

At the moment Harry had secluded himself in a study room in the library. He had to force himself to study for his first test the next day. The curriculum for Avalon was way more agonizing than Harry had been used to at Hudson. Most of his classes had quizzes and tests every other Friday. 

His eyes stung with how badly he needed sleep. The night before Louis, Jennifer, Jennifer's friends Carli and Annabeth, had all been getting high in the bathroom. Harry's resolve quickly failing as he shut his laptop and joined the group in the bathroom.

Harry could see his phone light up from the corner of his eye. He forced his focus back to his textbook. He wasn't even half way through his material and the library closed in a little over an hour. His phone lit up again three more times. He read the same line again, then because he wasn't sure he committed it to memory, he read it again. Unable to focus he swiped his phone from the corner of the desk to quickly answer his messages.  
'Where are youuu'  
'I have an idea'  
'Trusst me its gonna be good'  
'answerme wanker I need your opinion!!!'  
All of the messages came from Louis. This was exactly the reason Harry knew he was going to fail his test. Louis always had something up his sleeve. Harry knew he didn't have to actually go along with whatever Louis did but he couldn't help it, it was fun.   
'Really quick Lou. I have to finish studying before the library closes'  
The next text came immediately as if Louis had his plan all typed out, only waiting for Harry to acknowledge him.   
'So I was thikning about somethin along the lines of a back to school party this weekend. We could have it on the roof of our building. This weekend when we go into town I can buy some kegs. we would have to find a way to sneak them onto the roof but this time of year its cold enough that it wont go bad. we can invite whoever. actually no just invite people we know. no freshman theyll get shitfaaced and give us away'

Of course Louis would devise a plan like this. Harry was actually surprised Louis didn't think of this sooner. But the real problem would be sneaking kegs through the campus.   
'How do you plan on sneaking kegs??'  
'idk i havent thought it through yet.'  
'anyway get back to studying and ill figure it out.'  
The text described Louis perfectly; he never thought things through fully. However, Harry did listen to him and return to studying.   
After a while, Harry felt as if he was finally starting to understand the words in front of him when the study room door opened.

"Oh hey sorry! Didn't see anyone in here." Harry recognized the kid. Louis did a half assed job of introducing him to people at the back to school dinner the first night of classes, but Harry remembered this kid. He had sat not too far down from where Louis and Harry sat with his arm resting on the shoulder of a pretty girl with black hair.

"It's fine. I'm just studying, you can join if there isn't another room."  
Jennifer had warned Harry that getting a room in the library was almost impossible. Most people wouldn't offer to share but Harry didn't see why not when there was a table for eight people and he was the only one there. 

"Really? Thanks a lot, mate." The boy shut the door and pulled out a chair on the other side of thee table. He propped his backpack on the table and unzipped it, taking out two textbooks and a laptop. Very similar to Harry's setup. "You're Harry, right? Louis' roommate?"

"Yeah that's me. Sorry and your name?" Harry could only remember Louis teasing the boy non stop. All in good nature, but Harry couldn't remember his real name. And he highly doubted it was 'dickhead' like Louis had been calling him. 

"Liam Payne." Liam took a couple steps towards Harry to shake his hand. "I don't think Louis properly introduced you to everyone at the back to school dinner."  
Harry just shook his head, because no, Louis hadn't in the slightest. All week Harry had been getting greeted from people he passed. People whose faces looked familiar but couldn't for the life of him put a name to the face. 

"Hey, has Louis said anything about Zayn? His old roommate?"

"No, not really?" Zayn's name had come up in passing, but only once or twice. Louis had been telling Harry a story about getting high off of shrooms in the woods, then running head first into a tree. But that was the only time Louis spoke of Zayn. 

"I only ask because he hasn't been answering my calls or texts. I haven't heard from him all summer. I thought maybe Louis had since they were attached at the ass." Liam chuckled. "Though, I guess now Louis has you to help him with his evil plans."

"I don't know about Zayn but I know Louis' planning something for this weekend." Harry figured Liam was someone who would be invited to a party Louis was hosting. They seemed like good friends.

"Oh yeah. He was going on about some rooftop party in English today. I should have known he actually would want to go through with it. He's got balls."

"Why's that?"  
Liam glared at Harry as if he was absolutely mad. "You live with him, you should know better than anybody. The knob is always up to no good. He's got a target on his back, he has! Whenever something goes wrong the first person the administration goes to is him!"

That didn't settle well with Harry. "Do you think I should talk him out of it? I could try to convince him to lay low for a while. Maybe he could get away with it a little later in the semester when he's not being as watched?"

Liam just shrugged. "Doubt you'd be able to talk him out of it now. It's not like he'd get in any serious trouble."

"Why not?"

"His mother is paying for a new gymnasium. They're practically one donation away from having the whole academy named after them."

So that was why Louis was so fearless, so sure. Money doesn't buy you everything, but it can get you a fucking lot.   
Harry gave Liam a smile and they both turned to their books. They studied silently, each in their own world, highlighting and tabbing pages in their books until one of the librarians poked her head in to inform them that the library closed in ten minutes. 

They both packed and walked out together. Out in the night Harry couldn't believe he had been stuck in the library for five hours, the lamps illuminated the walkway. It was a chilly night, Harry zipped up his hoodie and placed the hood on his head. 

"What hall are you in?" He asked Liam.

"Henderson. Can you do me a favor, Harry?"

"I guess." He shrugged. 

"Can you ask Louis if he can get into contact with Zayn?" Harry figured the three must have been really good friends for Liam to be so hung up on Zayn's wellbeing. "I just want to know if he's okay. Or if he's still mad." Liam hunched over slightly making him look sheepish and guilty. 

"Why would he be mad, if you don't mind me asking?" He knew Zayn was expelled, but he didn't think to ask for more information. 

Liam just shrugged. "I don't know if Louis wants me saying. Sorry." 

Harry just shrugged it off. It didn't effect him in any way, it was none of his business. 

"There was just a misunderstanding I think."

"Must've been a big misunderstanding to get expelled." Harry mumbled. 

Liam opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it immediately. He seemed to be thinking about what to say next.   
"Yeah, I guess."

They arrived at the front of Harry's building, Liam shouted his goodbye as Harry walked up the stairs. Liam seemed to have wanted to get away from Harry as quick as possible. He was beginning to wonder what it was about Zayn that would make Liam so unsettled. 

**  
Louis had been thinking a mile a minute since his last class. His patience for school had been wearing thin since a little after lunch time. The rooftop party came to him while he was supposed to be analyzing some Edgar Allan Poe story sentence for sentence. He was just thinking about how unfair it was that the students couldn't stay out past nine on the weekends. He wanted to party and drink. He couldn't do that before 9 o'clock on a Saturday in London. Then it hit him. He could have a party in the dorms. 

The only problem was that Brett would find out as soon as the party started, and he was still on paper-thin ice since the stripper ordeal. Before Louis became too discouraged, he remembered that sophomore year he and Zayn picked the lock to the service door that lead to the roof. They used to go there when they didn't want to be accessible to anyone else. They would just talk about everything. Literally. Louis didn't think there was a single thing that Zayn didn't know about him, or Louis, Zayn.   
Before he could get too wrapped up in nostalgia, Louis whispered to Liam his plans. Liam simply shook his head in disapproval, his eyebrows furrowed, bottom lip pouting out. Louis rolled his eyes, Liam always disapproved of his plans at first. He'd come around. 

"Louis. Where does the story take place in the opening scene?" Louis sat straight up as Professor Grimshaw called him out. Trying to remember the little he read of the story. 

"Um, a party, sir?" Oh, so that's where Louis got the idea for the party. 

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Grimshaw demanded. 

Slightly panicked, Louis looked down to the book open on his desk, still on the first page of the story. "A carnival, I mean. They are at a carnival."

He acknowledged Louis' answer with an eye-roll and moved on. 

"Mr. Payne, why would Montresor give Fortunato an opportunity to leave if he had planned on murdering him?" As Liam rambled off his answer Louis flipped through the pages to catch up. But all he was thinking about was calling his cousin who owned a chain of bars all throughout London. He would be able to get kegs from her. But then Louis remembered she basically disowned him after she found out Louis called her Crazy Kiera behind her back. He figured he could get Jen to do it. If Louis really wanted to throw a rager he could get his friend to DJ. But then Louis thought that might cause too much attention. Better to stick with an iPhone and speakers. 

The bell rang for the end of class. "Stay out of trouble, Louis." Grimshaw called out to him. 

"Yup!" Louis ran to catch up with his sister who had a class across the hallway. "JENNY, Jenny, Jen, Jen, Jen! Jennifer!"

"Christ, Louis what!" Jennifer and her friends stood by the entryway. 

"I need to talk to you alone." 

Jen apologized to her friends as she walked towards Louis.

"Yes, Lou-IS." She emphasized. 

"Shut it. Listen, do you still talk to Kiera?"

"Crazy cousin Kiera?" Louis nodded, pushing his hair back from his face, pleased his nickname stuck with some people in the family. "Yeah sometimes on Facebook, why?"

"She likes you better than me, I need you to ask her for a few kegs."

Jen crossed her arms. "What do you need a few kegs for?"

Louis threw his arm around his sister's shoulders and began to walk them towards the exit. "Because Jenny, I'm throwing a party this weekend."

"Really Lou? Can't you just quit it for a bit? Brett is all over you for the strippers and I heard the secretaries talking while I was in the office the other day, they think you had something to do with the security crash."

"Technically that was Niall." Jen opened her mouth to speak but Louis beat her to it. "Don't worry about it. I won't let the party get out of con-"

"You always say you won't let anything get out of control." She cut in. "But guess what? You lose all control!" The twins stepped outside where the sun was miraculously shining although it wasn't too warm out. 

"I promise this time. Just a group of our friends. It'll be invite only."

"Who are you inviting?" Louis knew Jen didn't trust his choice in company, being that they were all enablers of Louis and his erratic behavior. 

"Harry, Liam, Zay-." Louis stopped himself as he realized what he was going to say. He had prepared himself for a school year without Zayn, but not for an entire summer as well. And he definitely didn't prepare himself to not hear a single word from his friend at all. Jen pulled him in for a small, sympathetic cuddle. 

"Call him Louis."

"I have! Obviously, I've tried! He won't answer! And half way through the summer he changed his bloody number!"

"What did you guys do anyway?" Louis had been incredibly selective about who he told about what happened between he, Liam, and Zayn. He knows what they did to get them in trouble, but he had no idea what had happened to get Zayn expelled. None of it made sense. 

"Doesn't matter anymore does it." Jen stopped walking and stood in front of Louis.

"You don't keep secrets from me, Lou. What's going on?" Jen looked hurt. And Louis felt terrible, he really did. But he couldn't let this story get out. It was the only thing Avie had a strict zero tolerance policy on. 

"It's not that big of a deal. Honestly, I'm just being dramatic with it. And I don't know all the details yet so I don't want to say anything until I'm certain."

Jen just looked at him a little while longer. She shrugged and muttered something along the lines of 'whatever you say' under her breath.

"I'll see you tomorrow if I don't come over later. Homework and such." She paused then added, "I'll talk to Kiera. See what I can do." Louis smiled from ear to ear and grabbed his sister's face to kiss her forehead. 

"My hero! My inspiration! My better half! You are all the things that are good in this world!"

"Lou! Knock it off!" Jen wrestled out of Louis' grip. 

"I'm going to make the invitations." Louis ran down the walkway towards the library. He was going to need to print a lot of invitations. 

Louis clicked print as soon as he was satisfied with the look of the invitation. He honestly just planned on texting his friends, then handing flyers out to whoever he saw. When he walked over to the printer, he saw the last person he wanted to see. In general and holding his invitations to his secret party. 

"Professor Grimshaw I think those,"

"This belong to you, Louis?" Louis was stuck. If he told the truth, Grimshaw would get him in a lot of trouble. If he lied, Grimshaw would know because Louis put his name, location, and phone number on the invite. But it was second nature for Louis was to lie. 

"Possibly." Professor Grimshaw smirked at him. 

"How are you planning on buying kegs? You're not 18 yet, are you?"

"No, sir." Louis held his hands behind his back and lowered his face. Preparing to be reprimanded. Louis always felt as if Professor Grimshaw may have held something against him. Louis didn't know why, he wasn't normally the target of Louis' jokes. Although, Louis did start a trend among the students in calling Professor Grimshaw just Grimmy. But he eventually adapted and allowed the nickname. Louis didn't like that one bit. Louis noticed Grimmy wasn't yelling at him. 

He peered up through his lashes, cautious that Grimmy just might be trying to make him sweat. Grimmy just swallowed, Louis noticed how his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. He remembered the day he confided in Zayn that one time he had seen Grimmy at a bar with Brett. It made Louis feel a certain way, gave him a feeling in the pit of his stomach and his face flush. He wasn't sure what exactly that feeling was. He didn't know either Brett or Grimmy was gay, but that was the only conclusion he could draw from how one of Brett's hands roamed under Grimmy's shirt while the other pulled his face closer to press their lips together. And seeing that had given Louis such a different feeling that he immediately left the bar and called Zayn to calm him down from a sexuality crisis. All of his relationships had been with girls. He was still attracted to girls, very much so, but seeing what he saw had him questioning if maybe he had been repressing another side of him. Zayn brought him to a gay bar the following weekend to see if Louis could relax enough to maybe let himself be picked up by a guy. In the end, Louis had been a hit with the men, but he was no where near ready to look further into that side of his sexuality. He panicked and physically yanked Zayn off of some guy with a lip ring. Zayn hadn't been too happy about that. At all.

Grimmy cleared his throat and handed Louis his papers.  
"Stay out of trouble, Louis." Grimmy warned him, twice in one day. Louis returned to his room as quickly as he could. Guilt and just plain sadness weighed him down. Louis lied down on his unmade bed and ran his hands over his face. He really needed to talk to Zayn. He needed to talk to him, in the way that only Zayn could. Without judgment and even if he didn't understand, he would listen. Louis just really needed his best friend. 

And not that Harry wasn't great, he really was. But at the end of the day he wasn't Zayn. He wasn't the person he spent years getting to learn. To talk to Harry about this would mean to have to explain himself all over again, and how could he explain himself if he didn't understand himself. Louis fished his phone out of his backpack. Louis knew the only way to get into contact with Zayn at this point would be to call his mother. Louis' finger hovered over her name for a few moments. He finally decided to lock his phone back up and threw it to the foot of his bed. 

"Fuck you, Zayn." He said out loud to no one in particular. Just needing to say it. Louis took out his homework to keep himself busy. Luckily he wasn't as unintelligent as most of the professors thought, and even though he wasn't fully paying attention, he finished his homework within a couple hours. He went to the dining hall for dinner and took his food back to his room. Louis thought he wouldn't be able to tolerate more than one person at a time at the moment. Harry still wasn't back. That wasn't something he was used to, Zayn would always be in the room or on the roof. But he would always tell Louis to meet him. Louis just had to get used to the fact that Harry wasn't Zayn, no matter how much he wanted him to be. 

Louis furiously shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, Harry was not Zayn, Harry was Harry and Harry was there. Unlike Zayn. So he would stop thinking about Zayn and focus on making memories with his friends that were still here, instead of being haunted by the ones who weren't. 

Louis texted Harry that he needed to talk to him. He and Harry would throw this party. And it would be awesome. Louis had forgot that most of the RA's go home for the weekend and there was only a few security patrolling the premises. So Brett would be gone. And possibly Cash the DA although, he was the easiest to buy over so Louis didn't necessarily see him as an obstacle in his party planning. 

Louis received a text from Jen saying there would be three kegs ready the next day for him. Which became a problem all on its own. Students couldn't go off campus on Fridays. And even if he managed to get out, he had no place to put them. How was he going to sneak three kegs onto campus and hide them? Louis began to explain his plan to Harry when he texted back. Louis' mind was back to racing now as he had to find a way to pull of his plan. Zayn was always the brains of the operation. That's why they were such a good team. Louis reminded himself to stop thinking about Zayn. It wouldn't help. Harry could help him. Harry was smart and so far went along with everything Louis did. Together they could find a way to pull off this party. Louis didn't need Zayn, Zayn abandoned him as far as Louis was concerned. If he didn't want anything to do with Louis, then Louis wouldn't want anything to do with him. That's just the way it had to be. 

Harry finally returned from the library around ten. 

"Fucking finally! Sit we have to talk!" Harry dropped his backpack on his bed and sat down next to it. 

"Okay so I was thinking, Jeremy from down the hall has that older brother with that pick up truck." Louis nodded, remembering something along those lines about Jeremy. "So we call in a favor, have his brother bring us the kegs. He leaves them on the wall behind our building. In the middle of the night we sneak back there, sneak the kegs over the wall somehow, and bring them up to the roof. Can Niall hack into the security computers to stop the cameras from recording, do you think?"

"If he's found his way around the new system, yeah I think he can. But last time I checked, they didn't record anyway." This is what Louis meant when he thought he and Harry could get this done. Harry had come up with a plan that was brilliant, except for lugging three kegs over and eight foot wall, but they'd find away around that. But it was a brilliant start if you had asked Louis. "That's brilliant! I thought you were supposed to be studying?"

"I thought about it when I walked passed Jeremy's door on the way here, to be honest."

Louis then remembered what his sister had told him. "Shit, Jen just told me the kegs will be ready for tomorrow. That's a whole day earlier than anything I had planned."

Harry's fingers pulled at his bottom lip as he lost himself in thought. "Okay. I'll go talk to Jeremy. We won't be able to keep the kegs on the roof during the day, it's still warm I don't want to risk it going bad." Harry bit his lip. Louis didn't know where they were going to preserve three huge kegs for a day. "I don't know. We'll figure it out as soon as we get them."

Harry left then to go talk to Jeremy. Louis knew Jeremy from the football team but Harry could charm a snake. If there was anyone that could convince someone to do something for them it was Harry. Harry returned not even ten minutes later with a smug, satisfied smile. 

"Talked to his brother right then and there, they're all for it."

"Perfect. Now, who do we invite?" Harry sat silent. Louis assumed he was thinking about who to invite but that's not what came out of his mouth. 

"Lou? Liam wanted me to ask if you can somehow get into contact with Zayn." Louis froze. If Harry was talking to Liam maybe he had told him about what happened between them all. "He just wants to make sure he's okay or if he's still mad. He wouldn't tell me because of what." Harry looked at Louis expectedly. But the overwhelming sense of guilt had returned and Louis couldn't find the words to explain. 

"Lou, you 'kay?

Louis nodded. "I'm gonna shower." He locked himself in the bathroom. For some reason Louis thought that all the resentment Zayn had was fully aimed towards Louis. He didn't stop to think that Zayn had stopped talking to Liam too. So what, the kid gets expelled and drops everyone he knew? In the shower, Louis scrubbed himself as if it were possible to wash the grime of guilt and confusion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Party and Bullshit

"Tosser! You absolute fucking idiot!"

Harry's plan for sneaking the kegs into the dorms was perfect no matter what Louis said. Except for the little fact that they couldn't quite seem to get the kegs over the eight foot brick wall. The inability to see past their hands in the darkness of the woods didn't provide any help either. 

"Shut the fuck up, Louis and pull!" Both boys were red faced and short on breath, arms shaking with effort. Scaling the wall on their own had worked out fine. Harry jumped over to the other side of the wall because he was the tallest, though not by much. The kegs had been sitting there perfectly waiting for them. Louis sat on the wall with Liam and Niall waiting on the other side. In theory, the plan was flawless. In reality however, the keg hadn't managed to go higher than Harry's head. Louis wasn't much help, barley able to lift the keg from Harry. 

"It's your fucking fault anyway, Lou. Why would you tell your cousin to get three huge kegs for a small group of people?" As soon as the words escaped him, the lightbulb flashed in his head. As carefully as he could with shaking arms, Harry set the keg back down on the ground.

"What are you doing?! We don't have much time before Brett does last call!"

Harry crossed his arms, ignoring Louis' complaint."Lou, how many people did you invite to the party?" 

Louis huffed as if he were offended. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything, Louis! You said you were going to keep this small. If we have too many people we're going to get caught. And there's three of these things and we can't even get one over!"

"Okay, okay! Let's all take a moment." Louis took a deep breath in. 

"This is stupid! Tell Jeremy to call his brother and have them bring the kegs back!" Liam yelled from the other side of the wall. 

"Sod off if you don't want to help Liam, but I'm going to find a god damned way to get these over the wall!"

Niall spoke up. "Guys? Why don't we have Jeremy's brother come back with the truck-"

"You too, Niall?!" 

"Shut up, listen! Have him come back with the truck, put the kegs in the truck bed. It'll be easier to lift them from the back of the truck than from the ground."

Everyone sat silently. The only sounds coming from the crickets hiding away in the grass. 

"Niall, I love you." Louis said breaking the silence. "I know I make fun of you, and use you to correct my attendance-"

"Forge!" The three boys retaliated. Louis refused to acknowledge that changing an 'absent' to a 'present' when he was in fact absent from class, was forgery and not a correction. 

"Semantics!" Louis waved off. "What are you two still doing here? Go tell Jeremy to get his brother back here!"  
Liam begrudgingly headed towards the dorms. 

"I'm going to see if I can get a freshman on the first floor to let us sneak through their window. Cash won't be too cool with us if we drag giant kegs through the lobby."

"Another brilliant idea from Mr. Niall Horan, everybody."

"Fucking idiot." Niall called back. The crunching of leaves getting quieter as the boys walked further. With both boys gone, silence fell thick around Harry and Louis. After Harry had asked more about Zayn, Louis had retreated to the bathroom and barely spoke a word the rest of the night. Yet this morning, Louis had gone about the day as if nothing had changed. Just more restless because it was the day the kegs were being dropped off at the wall. 

Now there they were, going on a half hour of failed attempts. 

"What if his brother doesn't come back?"Louis raked his fingers through his hair and slightly pulled at a chunk at the top. He exhaled and dropped his hands to his thighs. "So what now? You having second thoughts? Leave then, H. I don't know what to tell you."

"Jesus, that's not what I was trying to say!"

"I just wanted a nice night in, with some of my good friends."

"This has fuck all with having a nice night!"

"Okay, I wanted to throw a huge fucking party but no one let's me do shit, so I lied!" Louis threw his hands in the air, almost losing balance on top of the wall. 

Harry didn't say anything. Not wanting to provoke Louis further. 

"What, Harry?"

Harry smiled. "I would have made a better plan if I had known what you were up to."

"You're not allowed to speak for the rest of the night." Louis tried his damnedest not to crack a smile. He looked down at Harry to see a bright smile complete with dimples and cheek. Harry climbed onto the keg to put himself leveled with Louis. He rested his head on Louis' knee.

"Sorry if I upset you last night. With the whole Zayn thing."

A sad smile crossed Louis' face as he petted Harry's hair.

"I haven't heard from him in months." Louis admitted. "Just sucks is all." Harry didn't dare ask what happened between them again. In time, the truth would come out. And if not, he'd get Niall to hack into the school records

"We still going into the city tomorrow?" Harry changed the subject. Eyes shutting slowly as Louis played with his hair. 

"'Course. You got a fake I.D?"

"'Course." Harry smiled. 

"Good. I want to be drunk before our party."

***  
Louis couldn't feel the tips of his fingers. That's how he knew he was on the right path to shitfaced. Liam, Niall, and Jeremy had disappeared immediately once they walked through the doors. He had lost Harry not even ten minutes ago. Or it could have been an hour ago. He just knew it was right after he took that body shot off of some girl. Or, maybe, Louis thinks, it could have been Harry. Louis didn't mean to get so drunk that he started forgetting details. He just felt so anxious, but a good anxious, about the party later. Jeremy's brother didn't end up coming back but Liam and Niall managed to round up some other people from their floor to help them. 

The bar Louis had chosen was a little too far out of the way. He didn't want to run a chance of bumping into someone that worked at the school or knew someone that worked at the school. This was also the bar that Zayn had said he wanted to visit. Louis figured it couldn't hurt to try. Maybe bump into him. He knew it may have seemed desperate, but he was past caring. His best friend was being a dick and at this point, if Louis were to come face to face with Zayn, he'd probably scream terrible things at him.

Louis downed the rest of his drink and moved to the middle of the small dance floor, dancing with nobody or everybody. Louis fed off the energy. Everyone moved as if they could care less about anything happening outside of the walls. The only important thing was that exact moment, to make it the best, to make it fun. They were only chasing happiness. That's what Louis loved the most about this type of atmosphere. He didn't see how nobody else saw that. He just wanted to be happy. 

Louis felt hands grip his hips and leaned back into the person's chest. He realized the person was male. He couldn't keep the drunken smile down. If it wasn't a gay bar, Louis wasn't likely to have another guy give him attention. So he reveled in it now. Exaggerating the movement of his hips to sway a little harder onto the man behind him. The man's hands came around to Louis' stomach and pulled him tighter. They moved together, Louis zoning out, eyes closed with his head back against the stranger's shoulder. Louis felt himself getting hotter from the already stuffy bar with the added presence of a body so close behind him. 

Louis could feel lips on his neck slowly going higher and higher stopping right under his ear. The lips made the same trip up and down, up and down light enough to slightly tickle but have Louis on edge. Not being able to take it anymore he turned his face and connected the strangers lips with his. The kiss was rough and needy. Louis moved his hand to the back of the man's head to grip his hair. Opening his mouth needing more and more. He turned his body without breaking the kiss and brought his other hand to the man's hair, as well. He could feel hands run down his back and grip his ass. He was pulled closer once again only this time, Louis was being pulled right into the other man's hips.  
Louis gave a small whimper as the dancing turned to grinding. The man's teeth tugged at Louis' bottom lip only igniting the fire in Louis even more. His breathing got heavier and he could tell without looking that his cheeks were red. Even in his drunken state, Louis could feel his blood rush to his dick. And from what Louis could tell, so was his dancing partner's. In desperate need of air Louis pulled away. 

"Holy fucking shit!" In that second Louis could feel his heart drop down to his feet. His cheeks were definitely red but not for the same reason anymore. 

"Fuck, Louis? Louis!" Louis ran off the dance floor, needing to distance himself from the dance floor. From himself and his mind. But most importantly, from himself and Grimshaw. 

Louis felt panicked, his heart was beating so fast it was giving him a head rush. 

"Lou! Hey, Lou stop!" 

Louis heard Harry's voice and turned frantically looking for his friend. When he spotted Harry standing with Jeremy at the bar, he ran right over to them. 

"We have to go. Now!"

Harry just smirked. "Yeah, I know. We stayed out past curfew. I went to go find you before but you were a little, ah, busy."

Louis froze on the spot. "Did- do you know with who?"

"What you don't know?" Louis began to make a list of excuses in his head about why he would possibly be making out with his english professor. 

"Lou, you have to start asking for people's names before you let them touch." Harry playfully slapped Louis' back then slung an arm over his shoulders. "Let's get out of here, you're obviously drunk enough. We have a party to host."  
Louis let Harry lead him out of the club, thankful Harry didn't recognize Professor Grimshaw. 

Professor fucking Grimshaw. Louis couldn't stop repeating the man's name in his head. He was just making out with his teacher. He had to see the man again on Monday in class. A class that he fucking taught because he was his teacher. Would he be different towards him? Would Louis have to drop his class. He needed the credits he couldn't afford to drop it. Stepping out into the nighttime air, Louis inhaled deeply and leaned on Harry even more. This was going to be a long semester. And Louis really needed another drink. 

***  
The party seemed to have started without Harry and the boys judging by the amount of people on the roof when they showed up. Harry was pleased that he recognized almost everyone. Most of the kids were from his class or from the dining hall. There were some faces Harry didn't recognize and he had a suspicion that they were freshman but he wasn't going to say anything. He'd let them have their fun just as long as they didn't do anything stupid. 

Being stupid seemed to be Liam's thing, however. As Harry was talking to the American transfer girl named Cecilia about where she got her head scarf, Louis bolted past him, almost knocking him over. Liam had managed to climb onto the ledge of the roof, smiling wide as if it was his primary school picture. Louis pulled him back over cursing him out the entire time as Liam struggled. Harry could swear he heard Liam saying something about how he was Batman. Louis won the game of tug of war with Liam winding up splayed out on the floor of the roof. He began crawling to the keg and poured himself some more to drink. Niall started a game of beer pong but since they didn't have tables they sat crossed legged and played on the floor.  
The music had just been a compilation of dance music. They had to make sure to keep it down, getting caught now would mean suspension, possibly even expulsion. A while later, Harry saw Louis leaning on a vent, trying so hard to keep his eyes open. 

"Hey, you okay?"

Louis snapped his eyes open, then they began to slowly shut. He nodded his head. Or Harry at least thought it was a nod, Louis could have just been losing the strength to keep his head upright. 

"Let's get you to bed, yeah?" Harry pulled Louis' arm over his shoulders to be able to support him as they walked. Before Harry could even take a step he heard a commotion coming from the corner of the roof. 

"Security!" Tyler from Harry's chemistry class yelled. Everyone dropped everything they had and ran for the stairs. 

"Niall! Help me!" Harry called out. Niall ran over and took Louis' other arm. Together they all but carried Louis down the stairs. Harry could tell Louis passed out when his head lolled back and his feet dragged. 

"Shit he's out." They struggled to re-situate Louis. They reached their floor and all but kicked down their door. Kicking the door shut behind them, Harry and Niall accidentally let go of Louis a little to soon. Louis fell, smacking his face as his body hit the floor. 

"Holy shit!" 

"Shhh! Thanks Niall, I'll take it from here. You better get back to your room."

"Yeah, you're right."

"And if Louis asks what happened to his face just say he tripped over himself."

Niall let out a loud laugh. "Okay, man."

Once Niall was gone Harry lifted Louis into a sitting position against his bed. He could see a bruise forming on his cheekbone already. Harry tried waking Louis, shaking him, smacking him lightly on the face, the side without a massive bruise. After a few minutes Louis moaned and lied down. 

"No no no no, Lou. In bed, come on."

"Bed." Louis mumbled softly. His eyes still shut. 

"Yeah, Lou, bed. It's right here, come on."

"Come on." He repeated. 

"Yes, come on. On your feet." Harry stood grabbing ahold of Louis hands to pull him up. But Louis wouldn't budge.

"No. Evil."

"Evil? Did you say evil? What's evil, Lou?"Louis didn't say anything for such a long time Harry had thought he had passed out again. "Feet." He finally slurred. "Don't. Work."

"Your feet don't work? That's why they're evil?" Although it was stressful with the knowledge that there was a security guard that could possibly pay them a little visit at any moment, Harry did get a kick out of drunk Louis.

"Yessssss." Louis whined. He looked genuinely upset, brow creased and a pout on his lips, Harry almost really did laugh in his face. 

"No. Your feet are nice, I bet. It was probably all of the alcohol."

Louis sighed. "No. Feet."

"Lou, I'm going to take off your shoes and put you in bed. But you have to help me get you up." The only response from Louis was a childish whine. Harry slipped his shoes off and placed them next to him. Harry stood again and pulled Louis' hands. Louis wasn't offering any help. He just kept whining. 

"Come. On. Louis." Harry struggled with Louis' dead weight. Harry finally dropped Louis' hands. He bent down and gripped around Louis' waist to lift him. Louis clung to Harry and didn't let go even after Harry managed to get him on his bed. 

"Okay, Lou, let's get you under the covers." Louis began to whine again. 

"What's the matter? I'm trying to get you to sleep."

"Yes. Sleep."

"Yes, sleep, right? Okay let go."

Louis didn't let go, just gripped tighter and wrapped his legs around him, as well. With one hand holding him up, Harry used his other hand to pry himself out of Louis' death grip. Louis did let go but instead clung to Harry's hand. Harry stood upright, breaking from the circle of his legs. He sighed deeply. 

"Louis come on, lay the right way." Harry yanked his hand out of Louis'. After Louis didn't move he reasoned that at least Louis was on the bed. Harry stripped and got under his own covers. Between having to run off the roof and struggling with Louis, Harry felt his head pound. At least they weren't caught. 

In the morning, Harry could hear Louis dying in the bathroom. Or at least that was what Louis was yelling. 

"I swear on my sister I'm never drinking again."

"When something happens to your sister you're going to feel like a right prick." Harry sleepily called back. His mouth was dry and he had a sore throat making his voice even more deep and raspy. 

"I'm dying. This is what dying feels like-" Harry heard Louis retch again. Twenty minutes passed when Louis came from the bathroom. But not before he caught sight of himself.

"What the fuck happened to my face?!" he screeched.

"Uhhhh. You fell."

Louis retrieved a bottle of water from the mini fridge after freaking out some more over his face. The bruise had darkened greatly, Harry could see from his side of the room. He plopped back down face first on his bed.

"UGH that wasn't a good idea." He complained. 

"Mr. Tomlinson. Mr. Styles." Came from the door with a series of knocks. Both boys stared wide eyed at each other. Liam wasn't kidding when he said the first person people came looking for when there was trouble was Louis. 

"Fuck. Deny it. They can't pin anything on us." Louis whispered. Harry stood up to open the door. The dean of student housing, Dr. Ross was standing, looking fresh and clean and intimidating in a suit. Behind him stood a man Harry never saw. Harry swallowed nervously. 

"Good morning boys. I'm sorry if I woke you. May I come in." Harry led the men in. Trying very hard not to look guilty. Louis was still in his clothes from the night before minus his pants that he kicked off in a fit while he was in the bathroom. They both must have smelt disgusting. They were going to get caught, Harry felt it. 

"This gentleman only needs to take a few measurements. Then we'll be out of your hair." Instead of questioning him, they both allowed the man to take measurements. With the measuring tape, the man measured the far wall. 

Both Louis and Harry turned back to face Dr. Ross. With a smile plastered on his face, he explained. 

"Seems like you'll have your partner in crime back, Mr. Tomlinson."

Louis quirked an eyebrow. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Mr. Malik will be returning shortly. His expulsion was lifted."

Louis raised both eyebrows, speechless. The dean nodded to the other man as he stood straight, seeming to have his measurements. Before the dean shut the door behind him, he told both boys. 

"We regretfully do not have anymore rooms, when Mr. Malik returns he will be staying with the two of you. A bed will be delivered within the next week. Have a good day." Harry and Louis looked at each other, neither knowing exactly what to say. 

"Did you know about this?" Harry asked breaking the silence. Louis shook his head. No he hadn't known. To Harry, Louis looked like he was going to be sick again. But Louis was just lost in thought. Zayn was supposed to be gone. That's what Louis prepared himself for. But the dean had just said it. Zayn was coming back to Avalon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drunk Louis is based off of me. I can't handle my alcohol.  
> Let's chat itsabattle-cry.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

Zayn shielded his eyes as the early afternoon sunlight shined in his face as he stepped off of his father's jet. Unlike the bright day, Zayn felt anything but. Dragging his feet as he walked on the runway to the hanger where a car was waiting for him, he straightened out his leather jacket and took a deep breath. He wasn't looking forward to going back to Avalon but he had to admit he liked that his reappearance would most likely shock people. If there was one thing Zayn Malik hated, it was being predictable. 

His parents had been furious when they found out he had been expelled. Swearing at him in both english and Urdu, he had a good idea about their feelings towards his antics. His mother immediately mused over ways to punish him. It was his father who really saved his ass. For the summer Zayn would travel with his father, who was a part time documentary film maker, to third world countries as he filmed for his new movie. His goal was to teach humility, or the importance of an education, or summat. Zayn was just happy to not be around his mother's disappointed glare. 

But when Zayn and his father returned, his mother had broken the news that she spoke with Dean Harrington about re-enrolling Zayn. She had explained that Zayn had spent his summer doing charity work and had a whole new view on his education. Zayn did enjoy the work and if he had to admit, he guessed he learned a lot, but he wasn't going to admit that. Regardless, Zayn was back at Avalon because he spent his summer being an outstanding member of upperclass society. That and he's pretty sure his mom was paying for the new science building. 

The first thing Zayn did when he was situated in the car was turn his phone on. He had to get a new one half way through the summer because he's pretty sure a lemur in an animal refuge in Kenya had stolen it. Louis had been trying to get in contact with him. A lot. Probably to apologize, Zayn thought, as he should. But Zayn let him sweat it out. He knew he was going to crack any day now anyway, even before he knew he was returning to Avie. But now he just thought to wait to make a grand entrance. 

Zayn spoke with his mother shortly as she was at a brunch she organized for diplomats to talk about world peace or global warming or whatever. He always resented his parents jobs for keeping them away. He wasn't the clingy kind, but he just wanted to know that someone was there. Even if he was stuck up in his room, he liked going downstairs and seeing his family, having that comfort that they were right there. But with their jobs, they were kept away for weeks on end sometimes. As he spoke to his mother he tried not to sound too pensive. His mother was excited that he was going back, he didn't want to ruin that. 

"Okay sunshine, I really have to go. But do great, make good choices, and I love you and will see you soon." She rushed as the background voices grew louder and closer. 

"Love you too, mumma." As he hung up, he thought about how much he wanted to go home. He wanted his mom's cooking, that she did when she was home, but Darla the chef's cooking was a close second. He wanted his bed in the room that he grew up in. Most of his friends were in Avalon but he enjoyed being alone all summer. He was so used to being with his family at this point. He already tried to let his parents get a homeschool tutor but they were not having any of it. It was back to Avalon or military school. And his parents kept up with their promises. 

As the car pulled up to the familiar gates of Avalon, or gates of Hell as Zayn lovingly renamed, he received a 'proud of you kid' text from his dad. He sent a thumbs up emoji and a 'thnx' back. He was annoyed with his parents for sending him away again but he knew himself, he couldn't stay that way forever. He had to remind himself of that as the car stopped and the door opened for him.

The next hour was spent with the Dean of Students, Dean Harrington as he lectured Zayn about the dangers of drugs and the reputation of excellence Avalon Academy upheld. All Zayn could do was keep a straight face as he tried not to laugh in the man's face. The school was full of obnoxious pricks that found whatever way to get a high, whether the administration wanted to acknowledge that or not. He had never felt more grateful than the moment he was given his room assignment and class schedule. Speed walking, as not to seem rude as to run, away from the office. He didn't think he could last another minute listening to the dean without saying fuck it and walk back home. 

Zayn was pleased however, that he managed to stay in the best dorm building. He new he was rooming with Louis again  
because he was also warned that it was a second chance for them both to stay out of trouble and show the academy that they could be a positive contribution. 

Zayn walked through the door to the room, prepared to see the look on Louis' face when he saw him. At first glance it was just as he had left it. No Louis in sight either. Zayn would never forget how they managed to get this room. For the first time since Zayn met Louis, it wasn't a scheme. A pipe had burst and flooded their room. Louis had his mother call to demand a new room for the boys. They were upgraded to a senior dorm when they were just sophomores. 

A loud snore scared Zayn as he looked around the room. There was someone in his bed. Whoever it was, was wrapped up tightly in the comforter and managed to roll onto their stomach and snore in the pillow. Zayn narrowed his eyes. He couldn't see much of the person, just a full head of curly hair. 

"Hey!" Zayn shouted. The person lifted their head up. 

"Huh, wha'?" He mumbled, still half asleep. 

"Who the fuck are you?" The question seemed to wake the boy up fully. He tried rolling onto his back but he underestimated how much space he had on the bed. Zayn watched as the boy unravelled from his covers and fell to the floor with a painful thud.

"Ow." he whined, sitting up. The boy rubbed the sleep from his eyes, still pouting. Zayn thought he looked like a god damned child. Minus, of course, the really fit body and bulge in his briefs that Zayn helped himself to getting an eyeful. The boys eyes widened when he saw Zayn. "Hey, I've had this dream before." He slapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment. When he looked to his lap his face went red. He quickly yanked the covers down on top of himself. "Sorry, just woke up." he explained, still groggy. 

Zayn smirked, albeit, not in a friendly way. "You don't have to tell me how dick's work, mate."

The boy laughed, missing Zayn's attitude. "Sorry. Is there something I can help you with? I'm Harry by the way."

"Where's Louis?"Zayn asked skipping the introductions. Harry looked over to Louis bed then jumped up panicked. 

"Shit, what time is it?!" He grabbed his phone to check. "Shit! I was only meant to take a short nap." Zayn watched in confusion as Harry grabbed whatever clothes he found on the floor and threw together an outfit. He almost fell three times trying to put his jeans on. Zayn thought there was no way that kid's dick could fit in pants that tight but he was proven wrong. Grabbing his blazer, he ran past Zayn and out the door. Only to come running back. 

"Sorry about this. Make yourself comfortable, Louis' in art class. The last classes just started, if he doesn't come back here first then he probably went to football practice. Bye, nice to meet you!" Once again Harry was gone, Zayn felt a headache forming. He felt slightly jealous that this new kid knew Louis' plans for the day. That used to be him. He was Louis' best friend, he new what he would be doing. Zayn bit his lip as he bitterly reminded himself things weren't as they once were. He spotted a cot on the back wall and glared at it in disgust. There was no way he was sleeping on that thing. Zayn left the room in search of a familiar face. Anyone would suffice at this point. 

Zayn ended up wandering the campus, reacquainting himself. He hated that for almost every place he had a 'This is where Louis and I...' story. The church, the woods, the gymnasium, everything. With white knuckles in a fist, he fought the urge to take out a cigarette and go smoke in the woods. He was close to breaking until he finally spotted Louis coming out of the art building. Louis stood talking to Cassie from Zayn's old art class, as the students filtered out of the building. 

Louis and Cassie walked down the front steps of the building. When Zayn saw Cassie say goodbye and go the opposite  
direction of Louis, he decided to let himself be seen by Louis. Zayn began to walk towards him, feeling giddy and livid and anxious. As if everything they had been through was coming down to this. Louis looked up and stopped short.

"Zayn?" Zayn could see a brief moment of fear cross Louis' face but it was mostly just surprise. 

"Wha's the matter, Louis? You look like you've seen a ghost." Louis ran full speed to Zayn and trapped him in a tight hug. Zayn only stiffened and didn't reciprocate the hug.

"Holy shit I've missed you! Where have you been?! I've been calling you!" Louis let go of Zayn. He looked just the same as Zayn remembered. Except his hair was up in a quiff as opposed to down like it had been but that was the only change. He looked smart in his v-neck shirt and blazer with tight jeans. Similar ones to his roommate, Zayn noted. The pang of jealousy returned but Zayn simply brushed it off. 

"I'm a little surprised you're happy to see me, I have to say."

Louis looked at him, baffled. "What do you mean? I thought I was never going to see you again! I've never been so happy in my life!"

That made Zayn a little angry. Either Louis was playing stupid or something wasn't adding up. "I don't understand. You throw me under the bus and get me expelled and you're so happy that I'm back?" Zayn emphasized his accusatory tone by crossing his arms and glaring at Louis the way he knew shook people up. And that's exactly what it did to Louis.

"I-no, I didn't- it's not like that I swear! I didn't tell on you! I denied it! I denied that we were all high."

The missing piece to this God awful puzzle finally fell in place. "You denied it?"

"Yeah! I thought you did too!"

Zayn stared blankly at his friend. "I told the truth! I said I had taken E!"

Louis threw his hands up and made some sort of high pitched sound. "Why the fuck would you tell the truth?!"

"I didn't think you could lie about getting caught high on ecstasy running almost naked through the football pitch!"

"They couldn't prove we had taken anything! Liam and I lied!"

"I thought we would all tell the truth and go down together."

"And get kicked out? Mate, my mom would have cut me balls off!"

Zayn huffed. "Yeah tell me about it."

Louis didn't say anything for a second. His face was a rare sight of solemn and genuine. "I would have never ratted you out."  
Then he laughed disbelievingly. "Fucking hell, all this time I was killing myself with guilt because I had no idea what happened to you. You left without saying good bye, man."

Zayn just shrugged. He was so upset that day he didn't want to stick around for goodbyes lest he start crying and make an ass out of himself. "Was just mad. Thought you guys stabbed me in the back."

Louis smiled at Zayn until Zayn gave in and smiled back. Pulling his friend in for a proper hug. "Okay. Now that we have that out of the way. Who the fuck is that in my bed?"

Louis laughed a real, genuine laugh that he hadn't been able to in months. "Yeah, that's Harry. Our new roommate."

"You gonna help me move his stuff off my bed?" Louis flung an arm around Zayn.

"'Course, mate."

***  
Harry wiped the sweat from his neck and chest with a small towel he had brought with him to tennis practice. Today was the first official day of the season and Harry had settle for tennis thinking it would be fairly simple. Turns out, tennis is a lot more of a work out than he had ever anticipated. Taking a large gulp from his water bottle Harry arrived to his dorm. He wanted nothing more than to shower and rest his sore arms and legs, maybe he could even convince Louis to give him a massage before he had to go to his study group. 

Harry could hear voices and laughter as he neared the door to his room. Once inside Harry could see Louis in a towel, fresh from the shower. The boy from earlier was laying on his bed. All of his things were thrown haphazardly on a cot on the far wall. 

 

"Yay! Harry's back!" Louis cheered. 

"Yay." He replied flatly. Harry took a closer look at Louis. His eyes were red and his face was relaxed. He could tell the steam and scent of the shower were being used to mask the smoke and scent of weed. The smell was faint but judging by Louis and his friend, they were definitely high. 

Louis rushed over to Harry and clung to him, wetting him through his shirt. "Yay, all my friends are here!"

"Stop shoutin' Lou. Someone's gonna hear you." Zayn advised, giggling. Louis released Harry.

"Harry, Zayn-that's Zayn say hi to Zayn,"

"Hi, Zayn."

"Zayn was just telling me-" Zayn tacked Louis onto his bed. He covered his mouth with his hand that Harry noticed had a small tattoo on it.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Louis was hysterical while Zayn repeated himself over and over.

"You're Zayn?" Louis never mentioned that his old roommate looked like that. Getting a good look at him now, Harry couldn't look away. Zayn looked like God had a website to build your own human and they would appear right before your eyes. And now with Zayn smiling carefree, so comfortable and in his element with Louis, he only looked more devastating. Mortified over his first encounter with Zayn, Harry locked himself in the bathroom. Of bloody course Louis' old roommate would be the most intimidatingly gorgeous person Harry's ever seen. And of bloody course he had to go and make a complete fool of himself in front of him. 

Harry finished his shower, shaking the excess water from his hair. He stepped onto the bathmat only to realize Louis had used both towels for himself. 

"Uh, Lou?" Harry called out. "Lou, I need the towel."

There was no movement or voices on the other side of the door. Harry cursed under his breath. "Lou!" Harry cracked the bathroom door and peeped out. He didn't see anyone and the room was dead silent so Harry just walked out as he was. Hopefully Louis had a towel thrown somewhere. Harry spotted it on his bed, or now Zayn's bed, and went to go retrieve it. He  
wrapped it around himself to dry himself off. When he turned he spotted Zayn relaxing on Louis' bed.

"Jesus Christ!" Harry almost dropped the towel but caught it before he could completely expose himself to his new roommate. 

"Just go on as you were." He could tell Zayn was trying really hard not to laugh. His smirk was playful, his eyes were still glossy. His phone was in his hands as if he was texting someone. 

"Why didn't you say something?" He asked pushing back his hair that had stuck to his face.

Zayn shrugged. "You were calling for Louis."

Harry scoffed. "I swear I wear clothes. You've just caught me on a bad day."

Zayn smiled wider. "Not a bad day for me." Zayn spoke so low that Harry almost missed it. 

"I'll go- I'm just gonna go change." He mumbled. He could feel the heat of his blush on his cheeks as he stumbled through the small walk in closet. He changed in the closet to avoid embarrassing himself even more. He pushed down the tens of 'coming out of the closet jokes' as he slipped into a shirt and walked back out into the room. He settled himself on the his new bed- cot, not even a bed. As if the school didn't have enough money to spring for an actual bed. Harry was slightly annoyed that Zayn and Louis kicked him out of his bed. 

Harry grabbed some of his texts books and put them in his backpack. Zayn didn't look up from his phone once until Louis returned with sandwiches in his hands. 

"God damn it! That's what I forgot!" Louis tossed Zayn his food and sat down next to him. "Sorry, I meant to get food for you as well but I forgot."

"I'll share mine." Zayn offered. Although his straight, beautiful, face told otherwise.

"No it's okay. I was going down to the dining hall anyway. I'm meeting Jen, Cecilia, and some other people for a study group."

"Sure. Tell Jen I need to talk to her."

Harry nodded as he left the room. Normally Louis would go down to the study group with him. He didn't have a good feeling about this new dorm situation.

***  
Zayn took a bit of his sandwich. Harry was strange, Zayn decided. He was attracted to him even though he didn't normally go for people like Harry. From what Louis' told him, the boy was goofy yet confident and smart. If Zayn had to say he had a type it would most likely be people like himself. Ones that thought commitment to be a worn out tradition, who understood soul mates were created from fairytales so people could feel better about their lives. Harry looked like he was next in line to play Rapunzel; all he was missing was a prince. 

"Mate, what's up with Harry?"

"Wha' ya mean?" Louis spoke around the food in his mouth. 

"What's his deal?" Zayn pushed.

Louis finally understood and finished swallowing his food. Shaking his head profusely he warned Zayn, "No, don't even think about it. NO, Zayn."

Zayn just laughed at his friend, he of all people should really know better. "What, why?"

"You know why." He spat back. "Sure he's had hook ups but he gets attached. I've only known him two weeks and I can tell you that much. I've spent so much time talking to him I feel like I know everything about him."

"Then tell me!"

Louis sighed and rubbed his face. he grabbed his sandwich and took another bite. Then he continued, "Okay, so he's like us in that he likes messing about. He can hang out with older people and hold his own in a conversation but there's this other part of him that's... not so mature. Mainly in hooking up and relationships and stuff." Louis shrugged, not knowing exactly how to explain it. "It's like, he's got this huge heart and he likes making people happy. He's a good person."

"And what? I'm not?" Zayn felt offended. He was a good person. He just wasn't as free with kindness as Harry seemed to be.

"That's not what I meant! Of course you are it's just," Louis trailed off until he could find the right words. "First off, he's our roommate. That'll just be awkward and terrible, and no, just no. Second of all, he' like a puppy. You can hurt him then apologize and he'll forgive you, and it's just so easy for someone like that to be taken advantage of. I love you man, you're one of my best friends, but so is he. I feel like I have to look out for him."

There wasn't much more Zayn could say. He understood Louis, he was definitely annoyed, but he understood. "Dunno, man. He's a big boy. I think he can take care of himself and make his own decisions." 

Louis sighed, defeated. "Yeah I guess he can." He took another bite of his sandwich and didn't say anything on the topic. 

Zayn knew from the start pursuing Harry was only going to lead to Harry hating him. He knew the seasons would change and so would his feelings and immersion of his focus. Because when Zayn wanted something, he focused solely on it. But when he was done, he couldn't even entertain the thought. He could have told himself this a thousand times, written it on the walls to give himself a daily reminder of his careless stupidity, but it wasn't going to stop him. Harry in all his strangeness intrigued him. Like when he used to draw, it would never be of boring things like chairs or fruit bowls. It had to be of intricate designs and abstract ideas, it was the only way to keep him entertained. And for now, Harry was the only way to keep him entertained.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis confronts Grimmy and sleeps with Zayn. It's not what it sound like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly Louis' POV
> 
> Don't worry, the Zarry chapter will be next...

Louis was freaking the fuck out. He paced the small bathroom in his dorm trying, and failing, to calm himself down. He had come back to his dorm at lunch time to try and pull himself together. His next class was his english class with Grimshaw and he couldn't stop panicking. All morning he had been able to keep himself preoccupied, even paying attention in his classes just to avoid remembering that he would be seeing Grimmy. He contemplated even going to class. He could skip, just for today. He wasn't ready for confrontation. He and Harry had gone out again on Sunday and drank even more. He was still hungover halfway through Monday and not ready to look the teacher who had been feeling him up in a bar just a couple days ago in the eye. 

Louis made his decision. He walked back into his room to see Harry fast asleep in his bed. 

"H! Wake up, we only have one more class." Louis poked Harry but he remained unresponsive. 

"Harry." Louis tried again. Harry made a whined noise and tried opening one of his eyes. "Harry, I'm gonna skip english. I'll be in a spare art room finishing up a project for class. Then I have football practice. You only have about ten more minutes to rest."

Harry made an affirmative noise but didn't move. Louis didn't have time to baby him right now. With a pat to Harry's sleepy head, Louis left for the art hall. 

His mind was still racing and his heart was still beating too fast. He knew prolonging seeing his professor was only going to make things worse. But he just couldn't find the nerve to walk in his english class with his head held high and pretend as if his professor didn't do one hell of a job turning him on on the dance floor. His day was going to be hell, Louis could feel it. 

 

When Louis was thinking about what a shit day he had ahead of him, he didn't mean for the universe to take it as a challenge. His friend Cassie had also been working on an art project so he shared the space with her. That had all gone fine, it was only when Louis had left to go to football practice. Louis said bye to Cassie as they parted, when Louis looked up, Zayn was standing right down the path. At first he didn't know if he was hallucinating. He knew Zayn would be coming back but he didn't think it would be so soon. With all that was going on he hadn't even had a chance to fully digest what it would mean for Zayn to be back. He was slightly afraid if he was being honest. He didn't know where their friendship remained. If there was anything left of it. But as soon as it registered that Zayn was there, any thought of anger he felt dissipated. 

Turns out their falling out was a big screwed up misunderstanding. The boys made up and Zayn even waited around for Louis to finish football practice. Seeing as Louis was the captain he called practice to an end early. He couldn't get over Zayn being back. He wanted nothing more than to just sit around and talk and get high just like old times. And that's exactly what they did. They talked about their vacations while Louis showered with the door open. The steam hid the smoke and Louis just didn't want to stop talking to Zayn, even to shower. 

Harry had come back and Louis was just so high on excitement and pot that he just had to share it. He thought his day was going to be the absolute worst but it turned into the best. That is, until he saw the way Zayn was inquiring about Harry. He knew that look and he knew his best friend. Zayn was going to fuck all this up. And then came the email from the Dean.

***  
The email came through around a quarter to seven.   
To the students of Avalon Academy,   
A mandatory meeting requiring every student's attendance will be held at 7 p.m sharp in the main auditorium. There 

will be a sign in at the main entrance. Failure to attend will result in a demerit. Please be punctual.

 

Thank you,

Dean Harrington

"Have you guys checked your email?" Harry asked looking up from his phone. He hadn't been working with his study group for long when he received the notice.

"What does it say?" Cecilia was still highlighting facts in her textbook. Harry reread the email to the group.

Jen threw her pen down. "You've got to be shitting me. We've just started, this chapter is going to be torture!"

Everyone agreed but nevertheless, began to pack all of their things. Demerits added up to detentions and even suspensions. If you receive three demerits it's community service and your weekend privileges taken away. 

All the way to the auditorium Jen complained about the interruption to their studying. 

"I'm just as much as a gossip as the next girl, I love a good story, but I need to pass this class and it's my hardest."

Harry laughed at Jen's dramatics. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh, that's right our transfers have no idea what an auditorium meeting means." Harry looked to Cecilia. She shrugged with a frown on her face. So at least she didn't know what was going on either. Harry hated being left out, it wasn't as bad if there was someone else confused with him.

"An auditorium meeting means someone is in deep shit. And they want to find out who exactly."

The first thing that popped into Harry's head was the roof party. Security spotted them but they had all managed to clear out before getting caught. Surely they couldn't all get in trouble because a few people had stood too close to the edge of roof and had been seen. After signing in, Harry and the gang found empty seats right in front of Louis, Zayn, Liam, and Niall. 

"OHMYGOD!" Jen's squeal set off a chain reaction between the girls when they spotted Zayn. They all ran down the row to hug an amused Zayn over the chairs. Harry made eye contact with Louis and as if they were one brain, began squealing and hugging, mocking the girls. They were slapped relentlessly on their arms and upside their heads as they took their seats.  
Dean Harrington approached the podium at center stage. He looked relatively calm. Maybe Jen really was being dramatic. 

"Good evening. Thank you to you all for showing up on such short notice."

"As if we had a choice." Louis huffed. 

"I was away for the weekend helping my daughter settle in her new dorm at Uni. A proud moment in a father's life as you may all assume. Now you can only imagine my disappointment when I get word this morning that Saturday evening, students had been spotted on the roof of Whitman Hall. As you all know the roof is for personnel only. By the time security reached the roof any and all students had dispersed."

Harry and Jen looked at each other cautiously. If no one had been caught, why were they being lectured?  
"However, casualties of what seems to have been a party were left behind. Three kegs were discovered on the roof."

FUCK. Harry tried really hard not to react as he imagined Jen and everyone else was as well. Louis kicked the back of his chair. Harry still kept his composure. It seemed like the Dean was looking right at their section. God damn Louis!

"I will take the time to remind you all that there is a zero tolerance policy for drugs and underage drinking. I will not make the culprits behind this illegal action step forward now. They have until tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Otherwise the entirety of Whitman Hall will be punished." The eruption of protests, mainly from Whitman residents, almost drowned out the Dean. "That will be all for now, thank you. Have a good night."

Back in their room, Harry confronted Louis. 

"You gotta say something, Lou."

Louis had been in the middle of taking his shirt off "What?! Why just me?" he argued through his shirt that he couldn't quite pull off of himself.

"Jesus, Lou, you're like a child." Zayn said helping Louis untangle himself.

"Because," Harry continued, stripping off his own shirt, avoiding Zayn, just in case he was looking. "it was your idea. And didn't you hand out flyers? How weren't you caught already?"

"I forgot that I printed them out and never handed them out." Louis said as he pulled open the drawer of the desk, showing the pile of flyers laying neatly inside. 

Zayn chuckled. "Typical."

"This isn't funny! He's going to punish the whole hall or people are going to tell on you. Just tell them it was you! It's not like you'd get in any serious trouble."

"Maybe not with the administration, but with his mummy he will." Zayn teased. 

Louis flipped him off but agreed. "Exactly! My mummy- MUM, is more terrifying than the dean and the administration. It'll be fine, what's he going to do? Take away our weekend privilege for one weekend. Everyone will live."

Harry gave up. Louis could have been right. Although he looked forward to his weekends in London, he would be able to sacrifice just one weekend. 

Later when the boys turned their light off for bed, Harry tried his best to get comfortable. The cot mattress was so thin he could feel the springs. And it was so old it made a noise if Harry so much as took a deep breath. 

"Fuckin' hell 'Arry. Stop moving." 

"Easy for you to say when you took my bed, Zayn."  
The room fell silent again until Harry became uncomfortable on his left side and switched to his right.

"Son of a-" Zayn started, sitting up. "Come 'ere."

"What?"

"Sleep with me for tonight and in the morning fight with Harrington until he gets you a proper bed!" 

Louis shot up then from his bed. "No, no! Take mine, I'll sleep with Zayn." Zayn narrowed his eyes at Louis but Harry hurried to Louis' bed before he could change his mind. Louis' bed was so warm and soft he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

***  
"You fuckin' cockblock." Zayn whispered to Louis as soon as Harry started snoring.

"You're fuckin' right I am. Keep your dick out of our roommate." Louis squirmed. The beds were able to fit two people but not comfortably. He accidentally elbowed Zayn in the ribs.

"I wasn't gonna do that with you right there." He shoved back.

"Hasn't stopped you before." 

"Will you stop movin'?"

"I can't get comfortable!" Harry stopped snoring and Louis and Zayn froze, afraid they had woken him up. Harry just shifted in his sleep and continued to softly snore. 

"We're gonna have to cuddle for this to work." Louis concluded.

"Whatevs. Come 'ere."

"Nuh uh, I'm big spoon."

"Fuck you, I'm big spoon. I'm not arguing about this, I want to sleep." Zayn manhandled Louis to his side and wrapped his arms around him. 

"Don't get any ideas, Malik." Louis could feel Zayn's hot breath on his neck as he huffed out a short laugh. 

"Yeah, because I'm gay I want every guy I see." He said sarcastically. 

"Well, you did manage to get me in your bed."

"Technically, you volunteered. I invited Harry into my bed."

"Technically, it's his bed."

"Regardless, I could so do better than you."

"Excuse you, no you can't."

He could practically feel Zayn's smile on his neck. "You do have a nice ass. But then you open your mouth and ruin it." Louis elbowed Zayn, this time on purpose. 

"Sonofabitch!" Zayn exhaled. He gave Louis a short squeeze. "You still, you know, having problems with the whole guy thing?"

Louis was dying to tell Zayn about what had happened in the bar with Grimmy. He could practically feel the words form in his mouth. But he wasn't stupid, although he trusted Zayn, he knew if that information got out, Grimmy would be in a lot of trouble. Age wise, it actually wasn't illegal, but in a school setting it was forbidden. 

"I don't know. It's still all so confusing. I wish I was like you. Like I just know. But I can't keep thinking what everyone else would think of it, ya know."

"It's not up to everyone else, Louis. This is yours, it's for you. Maybe you're just curious because before me you never met a gay person. Maybe you discover that you're gay. Or maybe you're bi. You're allowed to be any of those things, or none of it, Louis. You can take your time to figure it out, too. There's no time limit, not unless you're unhappy. You gotta make sure you're happy otherwise none of it is worth it."

That was why Louis needed Zayn. He knew exactly what Louis needed to hear and he knew how to tell him the truth. Maybe it was because Louis had felt on edge all day and now he was with the person he needed to be with, but Louis allowed a few hot tears roll down his face and onto his pillow. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and closed his eyes.

"Thanks, Z. I'm so happy you're back."

His response was to just hug Louis tighter. 

The next day of school, Louis new he couldn't push it off any longer. He had to face Grimmy no matter how sick with nerves it made him feel. Maybe Grimmy would play dumb and pretend none of it happened. Or maybe Grimmy was already half way to Guatemala with his pet cat to start a new life as a cattle farmer and changed his name to Pepe. 

Louis had no such luck as he walked in to the classroom with Grimmy at the blackboard writing an assignment. Louis took advantage of Grimmy's turned back to slither into his seat next to Liam. 

"Have you checked your email?" Liam whispered. Louis shook his head, he had accidentally left his phone charging in his room. 

"Niall was telling me Whitman Hall is under lockdown. No one came forward for the kegs. No weekend privilege for a month."

"A month!' Louis yelled a little to loud. 

"Class has begun. Please begin your next reading then answer the questions on the board." Louis jolted when he heard Grimmy's voice. He momentarily forgot about his problem in black-rimmed glasses and absurd quiff. Feeling shameful again, Louis obeyed the instructions and opened his book. 

The whole class Louis made sure to not attract any attention to himself. There were times now and again he swore he could feel eyes on him but he fought to stay focused on his classwork. Louis was thinking about actually confronting Grimmy at the end of class or racing to be the first one out of the door. Time moved slowly as if to punish him. When the bell did finally ring for dismissal, instead of running like a bat out of hell, Louis stayed behind. Grimmy caught on to what he was doing and busied himself with erasing the board. When the room was empty, Louis stood up and walked to the desk as if he was walking to his death. Louis softly cleared his throat, getting ready to speak. Grimmy spun around and beat him to the punch.

"Listen, Louis. I am so insanely sorry. I was drunk, I had no idea it was you. Not that you shouldn't have been there in the first place, because you really, really shouldn't have been there, how good is your fake I.D? But that's besides the point, the fault is mine, I am sorry for any discomfort I caused you in the moment and for any you have now or in the future. I can help you transfer out of the class if that will make you more comfortable-

"No, don't!" Louis had listened to Grimmy speak without taking a breathe. It comforted him some that he wasn't the only one practically losing sleep over this. But as awkward as it was, he really didn't want to transfer out of Grimmy's class. "I, um, I really like you as a teacher. I don't- I don't want to transfer out. If it's okay with you I want to stay in your class."  
Grimmy released a long breathe that seemed like he was holding in for a while. "Yeah. It's okay with me."

"Good."

"Good." He nodded along. Okay, Louis' confidence in himself deteriorated as he ran out of things to say. He was just left awkwardly looking at Grimmy. 

"Louis, when I tell you at the end of everyday to stay out of trouble. I actually mean it." He laughed stiffly. "Why didn't you confess about the roof party?" 

"As if I haven't gotten myself into enough trouble!" He yelled frantically. "Why didn't you tell on me?"

Grimmy absently shook his head and shrugged. "As if you haven't gotten yourself into enough trouble. I didn't want to be the source of both of your problems."

Louis knows he was trying to laugh with him but Louis had been under so much stress. He tried to put up a front that he was okay all weekend but between the new school year, Zayn, Grimmy, and just life in general, it all fell on Louis' shoulders at that moment. Add confusion over his sexuality to that pile, Louis just buckled.

"Those aren't my only problems! I feel like everything is a problem for me! I keep walking around with this feeling like I'm about to be sick but the more a push it away or drink it away, the stronger it comes back! I'm only seventeen and I feel like I'm losing my fucking mind! Christ, I'm sorry I don't mean to unload all of this on you." Louis paced in front of the desk. Not feeling any better even after getting all of that off of his chest. 

Grimmy came around to stop Louis. He grabbed his hands that Louis didn't realize was pulling at his own hair. 

"Louis, stop that." Louis let go of his hair and dropped them at his sides.

"I'm so sorry Grim- Professor Grimshaw. I honestly have no idea why I jus said any of that." Louis stared at the third button down on Grimmy's shirt. Not feeling brave enough to look any higher. 

"You can call me Grimmy. You came up with it, didn't you." He could hear his smile but didn't look up from that third button. Louis could see his chest expand as he took a deep breathe. "You can talk to me Louis. With whatever's going on, it sounds pretty serious."

Louis shook his head fervently. "No. I'm just stressed. I'll get over it. I'll handle it."

"How? By acting out and drinking? Which by the way, give me your fake." Grimmy extended his hand expectantly. 

"What?"

"Your fake I.D." He explained. "Hand it over. I'm the adult here I need to control the situation. You have a forged document that could get you in a lot of trouble, give it to me."

"I don't have it on me and either way, my birthday's in less than a month. How much more trouble can I get into in a month?" 

"You, Louis, I have no doubt you'll find a way." Louis finally looked up to Grimmy's face at the sound of his laughter. He lingered on his mouth. He knew what they felt like on his own. And he liked it? His mind was still spiraling and when he thought about the last time it wasn't, it was when he was kissing Grimmy. He knew it was, on a few levels, wrong. And it should be strange, that kissing a man would be the first moment of clarity he had in months, but it was the truth. 

"But I am serious, not in a courteous way where I feel obligated because you told me what you just did, but in a genuine way, if there is anything you feel like maybe you can't share with your friends and need an outside perspective or mature perspective, my door's always open."

Louis didn't know what to say. If he accepted his offer it would mean something was wrong with him. If he didn't, well he didn't exactly know that part. He just wanted to stop feeling like he was always running from something. So in true Louis fashion, he deflected. 

"Surely there's someone else I can go to if I want a mature perspective."

"Oi,go on then, cheeky. It's actually in my job description to be accessible to students." Louis bit his tongue on just how accessible Grimmy made himself, but realized under the circumstances, he should hold off. 

"You wear glasses without a prescription like a thirteen year old girl."

"Stop trying to change the subject by attacking me." Grimmy's smile fell into a serious expression. "And I actually care, you're a good student, when you try, you actually impress me. You know, everyone goes through trials. Some people just cope better with it. Some people need a little help. No shame in it, it's just life. It's just how it happens. You're young, most of what you're going through is for the first time in your life. You're not meant to always know how to deal with it on your own."

Louis took in Grimmy's words. Willing himself to listen.

***  
Harry showed up to the dining hall late on Friday. He had stayed after at tennis practice to work on his game a little more. Most of the people on the team had played the game for at least a year and he wanted to catch up as soon as he could. He had help offered to him by Lucas, a senior who had been on the team since his freshman year and played since he was ten. He was in talks to go pro so Harry knew that if anyone could teach him the sport, it was Lucas. After his extended practice, Harry showered and decided to get something to eat before he holed himself up in a study room in the library. 

Harry rushed to get his food then headed over to his usual table with his friends. Once again, like for the past four days, Zayn was sitting in his usual spot. Harry was still unsure about Zayn. He was attractive, with his black hair in a quiff and slight stubble he noticed not even Zayn could stop himself from touching. Harry wondered if maybe it was a nervous tick. He had done it before at the auditorium meeting before he was bombarded by the girls. He had done it a lot maybe when he was stressed, Harry couldn't tell because Zayn was good at keeping a straight face. And now, he didn't seem to be talking much.   
If his problem was people it was a complete contrast to how he presented himself. So sure, slightly cocky, a bit as if it was a small miracle he left his room to grace everyone with his presence. Sometime Harry wasn't even sure Zayn liked him but then in the past few days he caught Zayn looking at him, kind of like he wasn't too sure about Harry either. 

They were at a stalemate and it looked like no one was thinking of surrendering. Their only saving grace was having Louis in common. When Louis wasn't there, Harry and Zayn barely spoke. It wasn't like Harry didn't try speaking with him, he would only get one worded answers. He was equal parts fascinated by him and intimidated by him. 

Like that moment in the dining hall for instance, Harry wanted to tell Zayn that he was sitting in his spot, but just like everyday prior, Harry just grabbed a chair and placed it between Niall and Liam. Jumping into the conversation with ease.

"It's all your fault, Lou." Harry heard Gene, a junior like himself, say to Louis. He must have been talking about the lockdown.

"Weren't complaining when you were upside down in a keg stand, Gene, were ya? He defended Louis. "We all went, we're all to blame."

"Thank you!"

"Hop off of his dick, Harry, he was the one that threw the party. You too, on second thought. It's both of your faults." He understood why Gene was upset, but he didn't appreciate his tone and accusations. 

"I'm fine on Louis' dick, thanks." He could tell Gene was taken aback by the brash comment as he stumbled for his words.

"Wait, your- ya know- gay?"

"You got a problem with that, Genie?" Out of all the people to come to his aid, Harry didn't expect Zayn. He sat slouched in his seat with his arms crossed, looking at Gene as if he was challenging him. 

"No! Obviously not, you're my friend, I don't have a problem with that." Gene rushed out. Everyone at the table now suddenly interested in the conversation. "Are you two like.." He trailed off and gestured between Louis and Harry. Louis just laughed.

"No, mate, I don't swing that way." Zayn turned to look at Louis, Louis just stared forward with an amused look.

"So, is it Zayn and Harry then."

"You ask a lot of questions about things that are none of your business, Genie. You a little curious there, mate." Zayn suggested with a raised brow.

"What? No, no definitely not- but not because I don't like gay people! You're fine, I'm- I'm just like Louis, I don't swing that way."

Zayn shrugged. "Right, whatevs."

Louis switched the topic to plans for the weekend. Since going out wasn't an option, some of the guys brought up a possible movie or game night. No idea really stuck until Jen came up behind Louis and covered his eyes.

"Guess who?"

"Satan."

"It's Jenny!" She smiled as she uncovered his eyes.

"That's what I said." Jen smacked his arm and leaned over to steal a piece of chicken from Louis' plate. 

"I have no time to play peek-a-boo with you, Jenny, we have to find a way to survive the weekend." Louis took a bite from his food. Suddenly he through down his fork and threw his hands in the air. "I've got it!"

"Ow, Lou! Ya hit me in the face!" Louis stood up to hug his sister and kiss her face. 

"So sorry, but I have an idea!"

"Can ya just tell us what already?" Niall asked. Louis sat back down and scanned the hall for any adults. "Okay, so my idea is a school wide hide-and-seek! There are no RA's, we just have to watch out for ground security. They only do one round before sitting at the front gates."

"I actually like that idea." Liam agreed. And if Liam agreed right off the bat, then it couldn't be the worst idea. Everyone else had the same idea as Harry it seemed because they all seemed okay with the idea as well. 

"Wait no fair! I want to play, too!" Jen complained.

Louis rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine other halls can play if they want to." Jen clapped and started texting on her phone. Most likely telling everyone she knew about the game. At least part of their weekend wasn't going to be a total bust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love it? Like it? Hate it? Let me know so I know whether or not to continue with it. Idk how to link shit but here: itsabattle-cry.tumblr.com  
> Sorry for the Louis freak out, I'm just used to having someone freaking out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a gross amount of time to write. I'm shit.
> 
> I also uploaded this at 2 in the morning and didn't realize I saved it to drafts instead of posting it. Fucking idiot.

Waiting for nightfall Saturday night was almost like sitting around waiting and watching grass grow. All of Whitman Hall had grown restless not being able to go into London with the rest of the school. The campus gym and library being crowded like it had never been before on a Saturday. Harry had been studying at a table by a window in the library for hours. His schoolwork was steadily becoming more difficult and Harry was trying to keep good on his promise that he was going to try better at Avalon. He hadn't eaten since breakfast early that morning and the only thing keeping him awake was the sliver of sunlight that shone on his face through the window. 

Being more than half way through his work, Harry decided a short nap couldn't hurt. He bookmarked his textbook then closed it, using it as a pillow for his arms. He cradled his head in his arms and shut his eyes, sighing in contentment. Just as his breathing began to even out, a hand roughly mussed his hair.

"Wakey, wakey sleepy head!"

Harry discontentedly lifted his head to see Zayn take a seat across from him. 

"You know you got a bed for that, sleeping beauty?"

"Actually, no I don't. Some privileged asshole took it from me." Harry couldn't help but sneer. Even though Louis had slept with Zayn again the night before, it was the principle of the matter. It was bad enough Zayn took his bed, he didn't want to have to deal with him rubbing it in his face as well. 

Zayn remained completely unfazed by Harry's attitude. Only frowning exaggeratedly, mockingly at him.

"Oh, come off it. You can sleep with me tonight, how 'bout that?" Harry picked up the smirk on Zayn's face. His eyes were playful, a look normally reserved for Louis, or Liam and Niall. Or anyone that wasn't Harry. Harry only got skeptical looks and the occasional appreciative glance when Zayn thought he wasn't looking. But now he looked so open, Zayn's smile coming easy. It made Harry feel as if he was just allowed into Zayn's secret cool club. 

"You want me to sleep with you, do you? Think Louis would mind?"

The smirk changed from flirty to confused. "What's Louis got to do with anything? Not his choice to decide what we do is it?"

"And what is it exactly that we'd be doing? There's a reason Louis gives up his bed to me."

Zayn shrugged, barely containing a smile from splitting his face. "We just like to 'ave a chat before bed is all."

"So all we would do is chat, then?" Harry realized he was going too far into forbidden territory. Zayn was one of his roommates, it wouldn't be wise to start anything, or even to have a one off thing with him. But if Harry had learned anything about himself, it was the more something was out of reach, the more he would want it. Harry also really hoped Zayn was flirting with him and not just being overly friendly because there weren't many ways to interpret what he was insinuating. The last thing he wanted to do was drive him away. 

Harry could tell Zayn picked it up. He raised his brows contemplating and shrugged again. "We could I suppose," He looked like he wanted to say something else but held himself back. But Harry wasn't having it.

"Or?" He egged on. Zayn leaned back in his chair, a half smile on his face as if he was already picturing what it was he wanted to be doing with Harry instead of talking. Except, he shook his head slightly and held back what he wanted to say. 

"Checkers? Homework? Sleep?" He joked. At least Harry really hoped he was joking.

"You have me in your bed and all we would do is play checkers?!" He asked slightly scandalized. He was trying to get useful information out of Zayn, not play bloody checkers. 

Zayn threw his head back to laugh. When he calmed down some, he looked away quickly around the library. Harry saw that the tips of Zayn ears were pink and he was glad that he was even a tiny bit affected by the conversation. He felt as if he had some schoolgirl crush on the hot, popular guy. After a whole week of essentially being ignored, finally having Zayn's attention was intoxicating. 

"What do you want me to say, Harry." Zayn said looking back to him. He looked him straight in the eyes as he continued. "I'd be down for whatever you want to do."

Harry couldn't ignore that they were in public and the librarians might have a few things to say about him diving over the table and sucking Zayn off right then and there. Louis was also in their room guiding Jen through the stores on FaceTime for everything they could possibly need for tonight. Harry couldn't have felt anymore more cursed in his circumstances than in that moment. He didn't even know how to respond which was rare for him. He always knew how to talk to people and was good at getting the last word. Something about Zayn was making Harry's brain short circuit. 

"We can just sleep I suppose." His smile did nothing for his conviction. Zayn nodded along with the joke. 

"Oh, I forgot something." Zayn reached into his pocket. He struggled some getting his and back out of his jeans but when he did, he tossed a protein bar to Harry. Harry clumsily caught it almost dropping it. 

"Oh my God, you're the best, I'm starving!" Harry almost didn't finish his sentence in time before he ripped open the wrapper and took a big bit of the protein bar. It was a little dry and tasted a little bit like metal mixed with chocolate but it was heaven to his taste buds at that point. 

"S'no big deal. Louis' talking in the room I couldn't concentrate. I was doing homework in Liam's room and stole some of his food." He shrugged. "They're gross but you look like you're dying."

"I've been here since right after breakfast." Harry said around the mouthful of food in his mouth. 

"What?" If Harry had looked up from his protein bar that was already half eaten, he would have seen Zayn comedically appalled. "You've been here for five hours?"

"Have I?" The only numbers Harry had seen were on the pages in his book. Zayn reached over and grabbed his book. Harry instinctively clamped down to stop Zayn. 

"No, no. Please, don't. I have to finish this. It's my last subject." Zayn was a lot stronger than he looked. Harry was practically bent over the table, refusing to let go of his book. Another opportunity wasted by school work practically taking over his life. Today was just not Harry's day.

"Babe, let go of the book. I'm only trying to help you. This is for your own good."

Harry's heart skipped when Zayn called him babe, but he was too paranoid over not completing his work that he couldn't even enjoy it. 

"Zayn come on, I have to finish, please?!" 

"Fine. Only because you're so cute when you beg." Zayn let go then sending Harry plopping backwards into his seat. He immediately looked down into his lap, definitely blushing but not wanting Zayn to see. He couldn't help how much he didn't like this Harry, the one that couldn't find anything to say back. 

"Thanks." He idiotically mumbled. He cleared his throat before he spoke again. "Anyway, thanks for your visit, but I have to get back to my work. And you happen to be terribly distracting."

"How am I distracting, Harry?" Zayn folded his hands on the table top and leaned forward slightly. He batted his eyes, playing up his innocence. Harry really did enjoy this other side of Zayn. He knew he had to go back to his work, but he didn't want Zayn to go. He didn't want to risk sending him away just for Zayn's attention to only have been on him because the hall was on lockdown and he was bored.

"You keep talking to me and it's not about advanced algebra."

"You know you run your hands through your hair when you're nervous." Harry hadn't even noticed his right hand shaking his hair out. Regardless, he was going to deny it.

"Do not. It just gets in my face." Zayn didn't look convinced. "Did you know you play with your beard when you're nervous?" He countered.

"No, not when I'm nervous." Zayn said shaking his head. "When I'm thinking, maybe. You spend a lot of time watching me then, Harry?" He smirked, hands instinctively playing with the small hairs under his chin. 

"N-no. I just notice that sometimes when we're with people, you get kind of quiet and touch your face a lot." 

Zayn's mouth twitched downwards. "Don't have much to say I guess." 

He snatched the book away from Harry once again. "Right, now. You want to talk maths, let's see then." Zayn stared at the book then looked up. "What the fuck are you supposed to be learning?"

Harry giggled behind his hand at Zayn. "The book's upside down Zayn."

Zayn cleared his throat, he didn't let his face crack as he flipped the book right side up. He analyzed the page with a concentrated face. 

"No, babes, sorry. It made more sense upside down." He threw the book down in front of Harry. 

"I'm gonna head out now. I'll see you later then?"

Harry nodded and gave him a small smile. He watched Zayn as he stood up. As he moved past him, Zayn patted Harry's chest lightly. Dragging his hand over his shoulder, letting it drop as he walked farther away. 

***  
Zayn got back to the room with Louis sitting at the desk, just having hung up the phone. 

"Oh, good. You're back. We're all set for tonight. Jenny went and bought flashlights and black sweaters for everyone. Well, at least I hope for everyone. She's bought like twenty. Do you know how many people are going?"

Zayn smiled at his friend. Louis was the human embodiment of a chicken running around with its head cut off. "Shouldn't you have found that out before, Lou?" He asked as he kicked his shoes off and stripped his bed of its sheets to make his bed.

"Probably. Let's see. Most of our floor and a few juniors Harry's got class with said they'd do it. Jenny's got her friends, and some people Liam's friends with are going, too. Ugh, Marcus is going, that prick."

Zayn vaguely remembered a Marcus. "Marcus? Marcus the kid I hooked up with freshman year?"

Louis nodded disgraced. "Marcus the kid you hooked up with then he freaked out and said he wasn't gay. Then proceeded to out you to most of our environmental science class."

Zayn dropped the blanket he was holding to the floor. "He still goes here?" He gasped. "Didn't he go to rehab after getting caught with heroin or summat?"

"No, I wish. That was his brother."

Zayn picked up his blanket and continued to make his bed. "It's whatevs. Can't really get mad about it now. Had a lot of guys introduce themselves to me after that, innit?"

"Pig." Louis exhaled in a laugh. Zayn was usually able to forgive and forget, Louis on the other hand rarely ever let things die.

"Anyways," Zayn changed the subject, rushing it all out before he could back out. "You can sleep in your bed tonight."

"Where's Harry going to sleep? Where's his new bed anyway? He said he spoke to Harrington about it."

Zayn shrugged. Helpless to tensing up his body as he grabbed his comforter. He knew what Louis' reaction was going to be when he finally fit it all together. "Dunno, hasn't said anything 'bout that to me. But you can sleep in your bed, it's cool."

"What's co- Zayn, no!" Louis flailed in his seat, pointing his finger at Zayn. "We spoke about this! You stay away from him! I mean it Zayn, leave the kid alone." 

Louis was loyal to Zayn to a fault, only ever looking out for his friend. Zayn appreciated it but sometimes Louis took it too far. It seemed as if Louis sometimes forgot he wasn't the parent in the situation. He was so used to being the oldest at home with five other girls aside from Jenny. 

"He's not a kid, Louis." Zayn responded calmly. "We were just havin' a chat and thought you could have your bed back."

"Bullshit. Zayn don't mess with his head."

"Come on! I'm not gonna mess with his head."

"Parker."

Zayn turned to face Louis. "What?"

"Cam. Anthony. Joey." 

Zayn had no idea why Louis was rambling off the names of boys Zayn had hooked up with. "What about them?

"Moses, Jake, Allen-"

"What about them, Louis?" Zayn had asked again, only louder.

"All boys who ended up hating you because they had your attention for a few weeks, then you moved on to newer and shinier toys."

"It wasn't like-"

"Moses keyed your car. It was like that, Zayn." The blue in Louis' eyes were so bright they were visible from where Zayn was standing. It made him look more stern and serious. "You don't think so, because that's just it, you don't think. You've got it in your mind that relationships are a prison sentence but don't have the heart or decency to not lead people on. You're really good at making people feel like they're the center of your world for a little while, Zayn. But then you just move on. And sometimes you don't even bother to let them know."

"I'm not saying I'm gonna marry the lad! I'm just saying he can sleep with me in my bed. It is partially my fault he's stuck with the cot."

"You can't even admit you kicked him out of his own bed! How are you going to tell him you don't want to have anything more to do with him once you've exhausted yourself?"

Zayn begrudgingly tucked the corners of his blanket over this bed, stalling himself to give himself time to come up with an answer to Louis. "I don't know why you're freaking out, nothing's happened between us."

"Yeah, yet. And when Harry does fall for your stupid charm, because let's face it, he will they all have, how are you going to handle him thinking you're his boyfriend? Because you know he'll catch feelings fast."

"I catch feelings too you know! I'm not some monster or a robot!" Zayn snapped. One thing he hated about fighting with Louis was that Louis knew him well. He could read Zayn like a children's book. 

"I'm not saying you are, Z. But you've trained yourself to handle relationships differently. Not many people can do that. Harry sure as shit can't." 

"He's not a child, Lou. He can take care of himself, give him some more credit."

"You serious?" Louis' face fell flat. "Sure the kid is advanced in school work, shit I can't do half of the work he does, but that's not who he is. I had to order takeaway on the phone one day because he's afraid to call in himself. The other day I walked in on him and Niall climbing on the furniture because they were pretending the floor was lava. Coming back to our room last night I had to wrestle an orange out of his hands because he found it on the floor in the elevator. He was going to eat food he found on the bloody floor!" Louis emphasized. "I'm actually pretty sure he still ate it because this morning I found orange peels in the waste basket."

"You're out of your fuckin' mind if you think you haven't done stupid, immature shit, Louis. Why are we on lockdown again?"

Louis shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, I'm immature. But I can protect myself. Harry is," Louis stopped trying to find the right words. "Harry's so open with his feelings towards people. He's so forthcoming with his kindness, he just genuinely wants to make people happy. I think that sometimes he bases his happiness off of the people around him."

Louis looked a him sadly. "You two are water and oil. Harry will do whatever to make people stay. You'll do anything to make them leave."

 

The Whitman Hall common room was crowded with people. All in the black hoodies Jen had bought. Zayn wore his leather black jacket, barely hiding his distaste for the tacky hoodies. Zayn spotted Harry across the room. Harry did manage to look cute in his hoodie. It was a little to big but he looked so comfortable Zayn forgot how awful and cheap they looked. He was sitting on the arm of a chair talking to Annabelle, Cecilia, and some guy he had never seen. He did recognize some kids from Genesis. He figured the guy must have been with them.

As Zayn was walking towards Harry, Jen handed him a flashlight. With a quick thanks he kept walking. He could see Louis in his peripheral vision eyeing him down.

"If looks could kill." Zayn mumbled under his breath. 

"Hi, Zayn." Harry greeted as Zayn approached. 

"Hey, Harry." Zayn turned to the girls and nodded towards them. "Ladies. Dude." He greeted the stranger. 

"Zayn, this is my friend Sam. He's on the football team for Genesis, I met him on the train ride here."

Zayn was naturally jealous. It was obvious with how he disliked Harry at first because of his friendship with Louis. He rarely acted upon his feelings, normally ignoring it and just being a little extra bitchy to everyone around him. Sam was good looking, athletic, straight white teeth, shiny blue eyes, sitting next to Harry looking all cozy. Zayn fucking hated him. 

Knowing his face was giving away his disdain, Zayn looked over to where Louis stood atop a coffee table to speak to the room.

"Okay, everybody listen up. The rules of the game are simple. Everyone gets twenty minutes to hide after the seeker is picked. You can hide anywhere on campus but not inside any other building, we'll be out there all night if we have to go room to room of each building. If you get caught by the seeker you must return here to the common room. If you get caught by security or any teacher that still may be here, then you're on your own. 

We've counted and there are twenty-six of you. So by the end of the game that's how many should be back here. Keep your phones on silent but check them regularly in case the seeker gives up, we'll text you to start the game over. So, any questions?"

An idea sprung to Zayn's head, but it would mean throwing Louis under the bus.  
"I think you should be the seeker first, since it's your fault we're here." he spoke up. Louis positively glared at him as a chorus of agreement erupted. 

"Okay, OKAY. Fine. I'm it first! You've all got twenty minutes. Hide motherfuckers!"

The students all but stampeded out of the common room to the outdoors. Zayn made sure to stay close to Harry. When he had begin to walk in the direction of Sam and all the other people, Zayn grabbed his arm. 

"Come on, this way."

Harry followed Zayn around the other side of the building,without hesitation and it brought back the unpleasant conversation Zayn had with Louis about him. Zayn kept telling himself that they were all practically adults and could take care of themselves. Zayn had an idea to head for the woods but as soon as he broke the tree line, Harry had stopped following him.

"What is it?" Harry had zipped his jacket up to his neck and brought the sleeves up over his hands to keep him warm. 

"I'm not going in there." He said pointing to the woods. He looked so young with his wide green eyes that reflected a hint of fear.

"What, why? It's the perfect hiding spot. Louis won't come looking for us in the woods."

Harry stubbornly shook his head. "I've only been in there with a group of people. I'm not going with just you, that's how we end up getting killed."

"Oh yeah? And who's gonna kill us, Harry?" Zayn walked back towards Harry. 

"Serial killer." He replied. "Bigfoot."

Zayn laughed before he could help himself. He held out his hand for Harry to take.

"I promise you, I've been in these same exact woods plenty of times by myself. Nothing is going to happen to you." Harry quickly took Zayn's hand but did not look convinced.

"I'll be very upset with you if we die." He informed Zayn as they walked into the woods.

They had been walking for about ten minutes before stopping. Zayn new they had to be somewhere around the football field judging by the direction they were headed. 

"These woods are creepy." Harry whispered, grip on Zayn's hand still tight. 

"Nah, they're not that bad. I used to come here all the time for a smoke when I couldn't sleep.

"Is this the part where you kill me? Brought me all the way out here so no one could hear me scream."

Zayn leaned against a nearby tree, smirking because Harry had only been half right.

"First part: no. Second part," Zayn's eyes shifted down to the lip Harry was biting. "Yeah, maybe that part."

Harry's eyes had been fixed on Zayn's mouth. He looked up to his eyes as Zayn put a hand on the back of Harry's head to bring him closer. They were so close together but Zayn wanted Harry to be the one to close the gap.

"Hmm, babe? What'ya say?"

Harry's mouth had been in a contemplative line until a dimple appeared on his cheek.

"And people say I'm the one with stupid jokes."

"You do have some of the stupidest jokes I've ever heard." Zayn moved his hand that wasn't gripped in Harry's to cup his jaw and slide his fingers in his hair. "But I wasn't joking." It did cross Zayn's mind that he was coming on a bit too strong. Harry did have a friendly, flirty personality so anything before this could very well be exactly how he treated anyone else. But Harry ended up doing what Zayn had hoped he would and leaned forward, closing the last bit of space there was between them. 

It felt as if it was simply an exploratory kiss at first. Mouths closed just staying close together. Zayn realized he'll let Harry establish how quick they were going to take this. Not that Zayn had all the patience in the world. They last time he had gotten laid was back in July when he was in South Africa. With that being said, Zayn was very grateful when Harry pressed a little harder and really started to kiss Zayn. 

He tightened his hand in Harry's hair as Harry opened his mouth letting Zayn switch between sucking on his tongue and biting his lip. That seemed to have been the spark for Harry who grabbed the lapels of Zayn jacket and pulled him closer. Giving more quickly enough. What had started as slow and sweet escalated to hot and heavy. Zayn turned them so Harry was leaning back on the tree, pressed together even closer now that there was something to trap Harry to Zayn. There was an unforgiving chill in the air but right where they were joined at their mouths was warm, increasingly igniting the heat in their bodies until Harry stripped Zayn of his leather jacket as well as his own, not giving the slightest damn that it was the middle of September, when the weather began to cool down considerably. 

Zayn breathed heavy through his nose, not letting up on Harry, pulling his hips forward by his ass and grinding onto him. Zayn heard a faint whimper come from the back of Harry's throat, feeling it subtly vibrate against his own tongue. He used that as initiative to repeat the movement. He moved his hands to under Harry's shirt, taking his time tracing the smooth, faint lines of his V-lines. Zayn trailed his hands behind Harry, attempting to slip his hands under the fabric of his jeans. Except the jeans were a little too tight, not giving Zayn too much freedom to wander farther.

Instead, he dragged his hands up, fingers dancing along Harry's ribs and up over his chest. Zayn contemplated taking Harry's shirt off but decided against it, they were warm now, but without clothes he'd catch a chill. He skimmed his fingers over Harry's nipples and pinched them lightly to which he responded to perfectly. His hips snapped forward, giving a pressure to both their cocks that felt absolutely incredible and addicting. 

Zayn's voice of reason, that sounded a whole lot like Louis not too long ago, was rapidly growing quieter and quieter. Until the only sounds Zayn could hear, sounds he knew he'd be able to hear in his dreams, were the ones Harry made when they rubbed together at the perfect angle. 

Sometimes they were sighs of pleasure, where Zayn could feel his smile against his mouth. But the longer they continued, Harry's sighs and soft noises grew into desperate groans that drove him completely mad. Zayn had barely been able to contain himself, he could feel how hard Harry was through his jeans, not that he was much better off himself. 

Harry broke away for a breath but Zayn couldn't stop touching or kissing him. With his hands locked in Zayn's hair, he moved down his neck to his collarbone, kissing and biting then soothing him with his tongue all the way back up to right under his ear, so Harry could hear him clear when he spoke.

"Can I suck you off, babe?" Even to his own ears he could hear how deep and slurred his voice had gotten. He didn't think too much into how long he wanted to this with Harry. Not that he had known him long, but that's part of what made it worse; it was just something that had hit him. Even when he was annoying, Zayn would watch him, trying to find out what exactly it was about this boy that had him waking up to a pissed off Louis because his boner was poking him.  
Only this wasn't a dream, it was a delicious reality. 

Harry nodded desperately, exhaling a yes. Zayn scanned his eyes over his face. He was flushed, eyes shut, lips bright red an swollen. Each quick breath hit the side of Zayn's face. He was fucking beautiful. But Zayn needed more.

He unbuttoned Harry's pants and undid the zipper. His hand finding his cock over his boxers, feeling him, warm and solid, giving him a gentle squeeze to tease him. Zayn tucked his face right into Harry's neck, muffling his voice. 

"You'd let me do that, Harry. In the middle of the woods during a game with people looking for us. They can walk by at any moment."

Harry flushed even more but nodded breathlessly once again. "Yes, please,Zayn. Please." The firmer Zayn's hand got, the grittier his voice became. "Please."  
Zayn spread his hand out, fingers brushing the tip of Harry's cock, feeling the wet of precome through the fabric that was becoming more restricting by the minute. If Zayn had to gauge his size, he was definitely on the bigger side of all the ones he had seen. The realization only spurred him on even more. Being the final kick that lead him to pulling the waistband down, setting Harry free into the cold for only a few seconds until Zayn dropped to his knees and took him in his mouth. 

"Oh, fuck, Zayn!" Zayn responded by taking him further in. He was absolutely one of the bigger ones. It did nothing to slow him down, only made him more determined. He pushed himself down a little bit more, thoroughly enjoying the whines pouring from Harry's mouth. He sucked and dragged his tongue along the underside of his cock until just the tip was in his mouth.

"Zayn. Christ." Harry moaned, keeping his eyes open to look right at Zayn. In return Zayn teased his tongue along his slit and around the head before bobbing his head back down, receiving a deep grunt of surprise. Zayn put one hand rubbing Harry's hip to stop him from bucking too hard, the other at the base of his cock meeting his mouth each time he took him down.

He had sticks digging into his knees, trying his hardest to ignore the annoyance, to be fully present in taking Harry apart with his mouth. However, another annoyance was his now fully hard cock practically suffocating in his jeans. He could make fun of Harry's tight skinny jeans all he wanted but his similar style was currently working against him. He was not going to come in his pants. He refused, he wasn't twelve.

Taking his hand off of Harry's hip, Zayn dropped it to free himself. Groaning around Harry as his cock essentially thanked him for the relief with a throb releasing a drop of precome. Harry moaned louder, Zayn's name coming out repeatedly, chest heaving, hands shaking faintly as they snaked their way to the back of Zayn's head. Normally Zayn would slap them away, not one for choking but Harry had placed them so lightly he let him stay as he was. 

Not before long, Zayn's jaw was beginning to get sore, before it could hurt, he dropped Harry from his mouth and replaced it with his hand. The wetness of his saliva letting him work fast and tight in a way that made Harry reach back and dig his nails in the bark of the tree. Zayn sucked bruises into the little bit of skin that was exposed. He felt as if his mouth had to be on Harry at all times.

He kissed around the base of his cock until Harry brought a hand to pat Zayn's hand that was roughly gripping his upper thigh.

"I'm, I-I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come." He rushed out, voice going high at the end. Zayn continued jerking him but ducked his head down to lap and suck on Harry's balls. 

"UHhh Fuuu-!" Harry whined incoherently. His head was rocking side to side against the tree, messing his hair up even more. Zayn returned his mouth to the head of Harry's cock as he began to come. Harry moaned as if he had the wind knocked out of him and breathed heavily through his orgasm. Zayn worked him through it, swallowing everything he gave, until Harry gently patted him to get him off.

Zayn's legs protested as he stood. Harry leaned him up against the tree, right where he was. He kissed Zayn's jaw, down his throat, lifting his shirt to mouth down his chest and abs. Once he was on his knees he didn't hesitate before swallowing Zayn down as far as he could on the first go. Zayn knew he wasn't going to last long at this point. Not with Harry's warm, wet mouth wrapped tightly around him bobbing quickly.

"Fucking Christ, Harry." He exhaled. A groan rumbled from his throat, he could feel the warning signs of his orgasm. His breathing came out faster and more erratic, losing all control over what came out of his mouth. There was enough moonlight spilling through the trees allowing him to not take his eyes off of Harry; his red lips stretched over him, trying his best to take him in back to his throat and not gag. His eyes were tearing a bit, not enough to spill over but enough to add a shine to his bright eyes that were still blown out. When Zayn felt that familiar burn in the pit of his stomach he started nodding, his voice suddenly failing him. 

He started to come, throwing his head back as he gave a pleased cry while Harry slowed down. Finally spent, Zayn closed his eyes and took a moment to collect himself. When he opened his eyes Harry was standing in front of him, zipping his pants back up. 

Panic spiked through him as Louis' voice rang loud and clear in his head once again, telling him he fucked everything up. But all that dissipated as Harry flashed an amused smile and reached down to tuck Zayn bag into his pants. Zayn stood still, flinching a bit, as he was still sensitive, but allowed Harry to readjust him. 

When he was zipped back up, Zayn felt post-orgasm awkwardness creep up around them. He didn't want Harry to think this had any significant meaning but at the same time he didn't want to hurt him. Jesus Christ, Louis was right. Zayn was a complete asshole.

Harry cleared his throat although his voice sounded rough still. "Um, thanks. I guess." He chuckled.  
Zayn laughed along with him. "Ah," he rubbed the back of his head as he straightened his thoughts out. "You too, I guess."  
Harry was running his hands through his hair trying to fix the mess that was made of it. Zayn kept himself busy by picking up his jacket and Harry's sweater. He shook the dirt and twigs from his jacket and noticed the twigs that stuck through his pants. He handed Harry his sweater and noticed he was still shaking.  
"You alright? You cold?" He checked. 

"Um, yeah a bit." He nodded. "Taking our clothes off seemed like a really bad idea in retrospect." He joked. 

"Yeah, a bit. Here." Zayn offered Harry his jacket. Harry looked at him tentatively.

"You sure?" Instead of answering Zayn stepped closer to Harry, stopping inches from him face. He swung his jacket around Harry's back and draped it over his shoulders. Holding the lapels together at the front. Before Zayn could help himself he kissed the tip of Harry's nose.

"Yeah I'm sure."

His voice came out steady but his mind was racing. He cursed Louis and his Jiminy Cricket like presence for showing up at the worst time. Only he wasn't so much worried about Harry getting too attached. No, Zayn's problem was much worse. His problem was internal in that Zayn didn't want Harry to think he was using him. Looking at him now in Zayn's leather jacket, a little snug at the shoulders but otherwise so endearing and completely harmless, Zayn didn't want to be the monster that kept everything to himself and ran away. He wasn't falling in love with Harry by any means, Zayn knows when things should get left at trading blowjobs. But keeping Harry around, getting to talk to him and see him and hopefully trade even more blowjobs, didn't seem like the worst idea to Zayn. 

Zayn really should have known from that moment. He was fucked.


	7. Chapter 7

"Truth or Dare?"

"Harrehhh." Zayn complained, sitting back against a tree, placing his arms on his bended knees. After checking their phones, Zayn and Harry saw that the game of Hide and Seek still wasn't over. That meant hiding in the woods, not being able to move, staring at each other as if they hadn't been all over one another. Harry's solution to avoid any uncomfortable feelings was with knock-knock jokes ("I don't fuckin' care who's there, they can stay there), puns ("I don't care if its us or the forest that have more wood"), and now truth or dare. 

Now that they weren't on top of each other, the cold began to settle into his bones. Harry didn't seem too bothered, only because he had his hoodie under Zayn's leather jacket. He was probably all warm and toasty. Zayn really would have said something, demanded his jacket back, but then Harry would have more to complain about. Zayn realized the first rule of survival in the wilderness with Harry was keep him happy. And it's just for this one time, Zayn told himself, it's not like he always needs to keep him happy for no reason other than to have him smiling. With that stupid smile of his, of course not, who would want that all the time? Except, it really was a cute smile. 

Running his hands over his face Zayn came to the conclusion that the cold was not only freezing him from the inside out, but giving him delusions like the heat did in the desert. Surely there had to be an equivalent for the cold. Really he just wanted the game to be over so he could go back to his room. Well... the room he shared with Harry. Zayn wasn't going to escape Harry. So that's what Louis meant.

"Zayn, I'm bored." Harry said as he flopped around on the ground, sticks knotting themselves into his hair. 

"Watch my jacket!" Harry stopped moving but remained laying on the ground. Zayn was going to have to buy another jacket when the lockdown was over. "You could suck my dick again." Zayn offered.

"No, my jaw hurts. I got hit in the face at practice again yesterday." Well, there went that idea. 

"Why do you still play? You're not athletic mate." He began to tremble. He went to reached for a cigarette but remembered Harry was wearing his jacket. He probably squished them when he was squirming around like an idiot.

"Excuse me, how would you know?" He sat up, offended. 

"You have a new bruise after every practice. You get hit more than the fuckin' ball does."

Harry made a face like he wanted to defend himself, but knew Zayn was telling the truth. So he sat quietly sulking with twigs and leaves sticking out of his hair. The sight made Zayn give a surprising giggle.

"What?"

Zayn pointed to his hair. Harry reached up to his head and ran his hands through his hair. His fingers caught on the knots.

"Ow! Ouch, that's stuck. Ow!" Harry closed his eyes in pain as he attempted to rip a stick out. 

"Alright, stop that you're gonna rip your hair out. Come here." Zayn took pity. He was just making the knot worse. Harry crawled over to Zayn and forced himself between his legs, bowing his head and resting it on Zayn's knee.

"Your knee's not comfortable." Harry complained as Zayn made quick work of untangling the mess in his hair. 

"Are they supposed to be?" 

"I guess not." Harry winced when Zayn pulled a leaf out too roughly. 

"Sorry." He mumbled. Zayn could feel Harry's hand resting on his hip. His thumb slipping under his shirt, soothingly rubbing the skin there. They sat quietly for some time as Zayn concentrated on Harry's hair. It would have been much easier if there was proper lighting but Zayn could see enough. Their eyes had long been adapted to the dark making everything a little more clear than before. Every now and then Harry would flinch when Zayn accidentally pulled too hard. Each time that happened he felt as if he had kicked a puppy. Now Zayn could see where Louis got that analogy from. Zayn really needed to stop thinking about everything Louis told him. Or just Louis in general. 

"There you go, babe. All done." Zayn told him, dropping a kiss to the top of his head. Harry lifted his head as Zayn continued to comb his fingers through his hair to make sure all the knots were gone. 

"Thanks." He smiled softly. They were so close it would have been awkward for them not to kiss. At least, that's what Zayn told himself to feel better about bringing Harry to him once again. Kissing gently, sweetly, without expectation. Just to feel one another. Zayn was pleasantly surprised by how soft Harry was; his hair, his lips, his tongue. Moving slowly so that he could feel every part of his mouth. Zayn had kissed just to kiss before but it was nothing like this. It was content, was the only way Zayn could describe it, they were both content. It was so comfortable and knowing. 

Which raised a red flag for Zayn because he had only known Harry for a week. It was a level of intimacy that should be reserved for someone you trust and care about, not when you're just trying to keep warm. 

Never had Zayn thought so much, and so heavily, while kissing. He was just thinking of how wrong it should have been, but he also didn't stop. And maybe that's what should have worried him the most. But as he realized that the longer they kissed, the less cold he felt, he reasoned with himself that he had to stop thinking as if this was the end of the world. He was looking so much into what every second with Harry meant, he was the one going mad. He didn't want Harry to think this was anything more than a hook up but there he was putting so much meaning that wasn't there into it. He forced himself to just shut his brain off for a few minutes, relax and just feel Harry. Let that warm feeling take over, maybe that way he wouldn't die from hypothermia. 

He moved his hand from the back of Harry's head to the side of his face, feeling his jaw shift under his thumb every time he opened his mouth a little. It was so much better once Zayn relaxed himself. Harry was against him acting as a blanket from the cold. And really, there were worse ways to spend a Saturday night. 

"HERE'S JOHNNY!"

"Shit!

"What the fuck?!" 

Harry and Zayn had jumped apart so quickly, Zayn winced as he was hit with cold air and as his back dug into the bark of the tree. Louis had jumped out with a flashlight, hysterically laughing until he realized who he caught.

"Wait, what the fuck were you two doing?"

Harry only stumbled over himself trying to come up with a response. Zayn stood up and dusted himself off. 

"You're a dick you know that, Louis?"

"Zayn." Louis warned, disapproval thick in his tone. Gone were the jokes and games and laughter. Louis looked accusatory at his friends. 

"Chill man." Zayn reached down to help Harry up. Dusting him off as well. More so his jacket, which he could see Louis realized Harry was wearing. "Anyone else you haven't caught?"

"You two were the last ones." he replied. "Well, you guys and Marcus, but I'll wait a bit until I actually try to find him."

"Lou, don't do that. It's cold out here." Harry sympathized. Stuffing his hands in his pockets for extra emphasis. 

Louis raised his eyebrow. "Not like you two noticed much, have you?" 

"Louis." It was Zayn's turn to warn Louis. He understood Louis was looking out for everyone's best interest but he had to know his boundaries. What Zayn and Harry decided to do as consenting individuals was of no concern to Louis. Who the fuck was Zayn kidding? Louis had no idea or care for boundaries. 

Louis turned and started walking, throwing his hands up in the air in surrender. "Honestly, whatever. Let's get out of here before Bigfoot gets us."

Harry perked up and looked at Zayn alarmed. "I told you." He whispered.

Zayn shook his head with an amused smile putting his hand on the small of Harry's back, guiding him to follow Louis. All things considered, this game of Hide and Seek was one of Louis' best ideas.

***

Zayn was a fucking idiot. Louis couldn't fathom how thoughtless his friend could be. And that was coming from Louis himself. But Louis decided to not care anymore, if Harry and Zayn were to hook up, then Louis would keep his mouth shut, grab some popcorn, and watch this all burn up in flames. Louis would no longer interfere in there business. It wouldn't affect him, he wasn't the one that would end up hurt so why should he care. That's how people grew as a person, wasn't it? That's how people learned to move on, it wasn't Louis' mistake to make. 

Once they got back to the common room where everyone was, now nice and warm by the fireplace talking about their hiding places, Louis noticed Zayn didn't leave Harry's side. Which was, weird to say the least.

Louis wasn't an idiot, he knew they were kissing, but Zayn had a particular approach when it came to hooking up. All their years as friends, Louis learned a certain pattern. Zayn liked being the one that was chased, it boosted his ego. Not that his ego needed any boosting, he knew he was beautiful. So beautiful that girls continued to flirt with him even after he told them he was gay. 

But even though Zayn liked being sought after, there was a control in the way he did it. Louis never doubted that Zayn was a few steps ahead. He knew how to effortlessly get under people's skin. It was done just like Louis told him, Zayn could make anyone feel like they were the center of his attention when he wanted to. And really, who wouldn't want that? Louis did and he wasn't attracted to him. He used to joke with Zayn that he knew too much, and that's why they could never be together. Only, the more thought Louis put into his attraction to guys, the more he saw. He couldn't ever be attracted to Zayn in that way because he did actually know too much. 

Zayn had tricked himself into believing that relationships were the root of all evil. Maybe that was a bit dramatic, but Zayn really didn't like relationships. He liked the thought of someone being there, but he liked his own space and privacy too much. Louis always thought that one day he would grow out of that mind set. They were still in school, living off of their parents money. Once they grow up, have some ups and downs, some heartbreaks and go around the block once or twice, Zayn would stop thinking only of himself. Louis could at least hope. 

Louis saw that Harry was speaking to Sam, the kid from Genesis he found hiding with a small group of people behind the sport utility shed. The same shed Louis, Liam and Zayn has popped an ecstasy pill and shed their clothing. But the most amusing part was that Zayn was right next to Harry, arm around his back with his hand in his jacket pocket, looking every bit of a protective boyfriend. It didn't go over Louis' head that Harry was wearing Zayn's sacred leather jacket, either. He must have been laying it on real thick to give that up. 

He could see Harry try to get Zayn to engage in the conversation but he was only looking at Harry. Completely ignoring the other party in the conversation. Maybe Louis had gone about this all wrong. Maybe for once Zayn was going to be the one to catch feelings. Louis laughed to himself, yeah right. 

Jumping back onto the coffee table, Louis addressed the room. "Okay everyone, good game! This one ran a little later than expected, so we can press our luck with another round before security decides to make another round or we can call it a night."

"Gen has to start heading back now, Lou." Landon, the center midfiedler of the Genesis football team said. Louis liked Landon, he was a fun person to have around, but during football season he would put his head on a pike Lord of the Flies style in .2 seconds. 

"Alright then, thanks all of our Gen friends for coming. You're only our friends for a few more days until the season officially starts and then we're sworn enemies." People laughed and started saying their goodbyes. Louis looked over to where Harry and Zayn were standing. Harry was hugging Sam goodbye while Zayn looked on, positively homicidal. It only got worse when Sam took his phone out and handed it to Harry to put his number in. Zayn looked like he had some nice ideas about where he would like to put that phone. 

Zayn hastily walked away and headed towards Louis, pushing past people, not caring much that he was. The annoyed look on his face stopped people from yelling at him for shoving them. Harry looked around after giving the phone back, a little sad that Zayn wasn't by his side anymore. 

Once Zayn reached the coffee table Louis was still standing on, he nodded to him.

"Mate, you forget to tell Marcus the game is over?"

"Shit!"

 

Louis knew Zayn liked to think he was the Buddha of arguments but he really wasn't. He didn't forgive as easily as he thought he did. Exhibit A: the entire summer he spent avoiding Louis. He forgave but he was also the kind of person that threw it back in your face. And in the end, was that really forgiveness? If you asked Louis; no. But Zayn would say different. Which was why he was only half surprised that Zayn was curled up around Harry in bed after he walked out of the bathroom. 

Zayn gave him a heads up earlier in the day but for some reason he didn't completely believe him. Especially not after getting irrationally jealous of Sam and Harry to the point where he walked away. But alas, there they were. Cuddled up adorably under the blanket, not realizing that they were going to fall so hard for one another this year. Louis called it. He originally thought this would come back and bite them in their asses, but for once he wasn't going to be pessimistic. He hoped whatever it was between them would be good. God knew Zayn needed to get his head out of his ass about the whole relationship thing. And why couldn't Harry be that lesson?

Unless he wasn't and then Louis was stuck with two roommates that fought all the time and had crazy sexual tension but because they're both stubborn little shitheads, it was all going to come crashing down putting Louis in the middle between his two best friends. 

No, Louis had to stop thinking about that. Not his circus, not his monkeys he repeated to himself as he crawled under his covers. Louis did want everything to work out alright between his friends. Because if it did, he would have his own bed back permanently. 

 

After his last class, Louis stayed behind to talk to Nick. He was only allowed to call Grimmy by his first name after school. He had found out his name by snooping through some paperwork on his desk after school one day. He started talking to Nick after school before practice almost every day after his melt down. He figured talking to him would be better than talking to the school shrink. He had enough of shrinks after his mom forced him to see one after his parents separated. They weren't terrible, but sometimes it's easier to talk to people that you know aren't getting paid to listen. 

Most days they talked about Louis and his life, some days they just talked about random things. Music, movies, places they've traveled to. It was nice speaking to an adult that spoke to him like he was one, which he technically was but the teachers were mostly old at Avie and wouldn't even try connecting with their class. But Nick wasn't like that, Louis was an equal to him. He allowed Louis to be open and honest in a way that he hadn't been in a long time. And Louis would be lying if he said he didn't have a little crush on him. A big, fat, disgusting crush that Louis would deny to Jesus himself.

"Can't talk long today, Lou, I have a meeting with Dean Harrington in twenty minutes." Nick rushed, putting papers in his brief case, stopping to inspect a paper.

"About what?" Louis asked hopping onto a desktop across from Nick's desk. Nick was so engrossed by what he was reading that he didn't answer Louis.

"Hello?" Louis kicked Nick's desk. "Earth to Nicholas." He waved his hands in the air in front of Nick's face. "What are you meeting Harrington about?"

Nick's head jerked up. "What? Oh, the meeting. Yeah," he cleared his throat. "Louis, I don't really know how to tell you this." Nick put the paper into his briefcase and shut it, looking regretful. 

Louis' stomach dropped. The man had a habit of making his stomach to that a lot. "Tell me what?"

"I, uh, I've had this possible job opportunity at a Uni since the beginning of summer break. One of their English professors had a baby over break and she's finally decided that she isn't coming back. And they want me to take over for her. Harrington's known about it, it's not like I'm just walking away without warning."

"You're leaving?" That was the only thing that Louis caught. Nick was leaving the academy, leaving him. Louis felt like he was punched in the gut. 

"Well, yeah, I am. If it all goes according to plan I should be gone by the end of this week." Louis knew he was terrible for how pleased he was about how regretful Nick looked at him. But not even that could make him feel better. Nick was leaving. In three days. 

"But y-you can't. You can't." Louis spoke slowly. Like he was trying to make sense of what he was being told even though it was perfectly clear. He felt like everything was slow motion before it all came pouring out. "We talk every day, I need you for that. I trust you, you're one of the only people I trust. I tell you everything, the only other person that knows that much is Zayn and I can't talk to him now, he's too busy with Harry. Nick, what am I supposed to do now? You said I could always go to you for anything but you're not going to be here."

Louis took a deep breath, regaining his composure. He spoke so quickly without stopping, not even to let Nick speak when he put his hand up to calm Louis and interrupt. He just spoke over him, needing him to hear it. Knowing it wouldn't change anything. 

"Can I speak now?" Nick asked cautiously. Louis sullenly nodded. "I know staying after everyday with me is important to you. I'm pleased that you're that comfortable around me to talk to me about the things you have. It can't be easy. And I've enjoyed it, too, Louis I really have." Nick laughed to himself. "You're not at all what I expected you to be like if I'm honest. And that's a good thing!" He reassured. 

Louis smiled sadly, not even able to accept the compliment. A disturbing thought popped into Louis' head then. "It's not, um. It's not because of me is it? Because of-" He gestured between himself and Nick. "Us. What happened?" he asked quietly. 

Nick immediately began shaking his head. "No, no Louis, this has nothing to do with you. I don't want you thinking that."

"It's only that- it's just a strange time to take a new job with the school year already started and all,"

"No." He stated firmly, placing both hands on the desk and leaning forward. "The other professor wanted to see how she could balance a new baby and work, she's single or something I think, so she gave it a couple weeks and it just wasn't working out for her. Okay? I'm sorry for the terrible timing but I don't want you, even for a second, thinking that I'm leaving because of you, okay?"

Louis nodded, hoping Nick wouldn't lie to him about that. Still not feeling any better because no matter why, Nick was still leaving. 

"I guess I got comfortable with you, is all."

"I'm not leaving the country Louis!" Nick joked. He rounded his desk and sat down opposite Louis. Nick reached over and put his hand on Louis' knee. "How 'bout this then? I could give you my number, you can text me whenever."

"Really?" Louis looked up from where he was staring at Nick's hand on him. He hadn't touched him since the night at the bar. Louis was embarrassed by how excited having Nick's number made him. To be attainable to Nick at any moment of the day or night. 

"Yeah, I mean there wouldn't be anything wrong with it under the circumstances, right? I'll be a Uni professor, you call me whenever you're having a difficult time with something. It'll be okay, I'm still here for you Louis."

"Thank you. It's really going to suck without you here, Nick."

Nick just winked at him before standing up and walking back around his desk. Louis could still feel his hand on him. "Go on to football practice. Big game today, innit?"

"Yeah. I'm kinda nervous if I'm honest." He confessed. The first game of the season was always the most stressful game for Louis. But this year he was team captain and it was his last year. There was double the amount of pressure on him to go out with a bang.

"You?! The show-off, nervous? No! Can't be!" Nick mocked. 

"Oh, shut up!" Louis laughed. He knew he could rely on Nick to make him feel better. "They're all counting on me! I'm captain, this is my last first game for this school!"

"Louis you are aware football is a team sport, correct? This doesn't all land on you." 

Louis scoffed. "Yeah? Tell that to the entire school if we lose a game."

Nick shook his head. "Catch." He warned before throwing his phone to Louis. "Put your number in." He told him as he continued to gather his things. Louis obeyed and quickly typed in his number. Maybe even included a series of emojis that may or may not have included a heart and a kiss. Before he erased it, he saved it and tossed it back to Nick. Letting it be. 

"Alright, Lou." Nick said as he shut his briefcase and moved to the side of his desk, ready to leave. "Sorry again that I can't stay and talk some more."

Louis felt so heavy at that moment. Kind of like Nick was walking out for good, even though that wasn't true. Louis just really didn't want him to leave. So Louis ran to Nick and hugged him because he truly felt as if he needed to in that moment. 

"Lou- what? Louis, I'm not leaving today." Louis knew Nick might not take the contact well. Although at first he sounded uneasy, he relaxed and put an arm around Louis, patting his back comfortingly. "And you'll be able to reach me whenever you need me, okay?"

Louis nodded into his chest. He gave himself another moment before letting Nick go. "Sorry." he mumbled. 

Nick scrunched his nose and grabbed Louis' chin between his two fingers. "Play well tonight, you hear." He pulled away and began to walk towards the door. Louis followed after him.

"Will you go?" Nick stopped at the door and turned to face Louis. 

"I guess so. Was thinking of going with some other professors anyway. Just don't suck Tommo, I normally wouldn't be caught dead at a football game."

Louis rolled his eyes and walked past Nick and into the hallway. "Whatever, Nicholas. You're so strange. How can you not like football?"

"Sure, how can anyone dislike sitting in a crowded stadium with drunks yelling at meat heads chasing a ball back and forth on a patch of grass."

"You have three seconds to take that back." Louis warned.

"Or what, Louis?" Nick smirked. A million things ran through Louis' mind but he went with one of the few appropriate thoughts. 

"If you have a good time at the game tonight, you give me extra credit on our exam Friday."

Nick scoffed. "Forget it. How about if you win, you'll get that extra credit?"

"Deal."

"Deal. See you tonight, Captain." Nick saluted as he walked the opposite direction of Louis.

Louis felt bittersweet. He didn't want Nick to go but he would still keep contact with him. And Nick would be going to his game tonight. Now that Louis knew his time with Nick was limited, he wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. Louis knew things weren't ever going to be the same.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a piece of shit. This took an unreasonable amount of time to write. Soz

The campus was alive with energy for the first game day of the season. Banners were hung, students prepared themselves for the game by dressing in school colors, the talk of the campus was about the first game with Genesis. Some even painting their hair and faces. It was the final countdown and everyone was watching, waiting for the kick-off.

Everyone, except Harry and Jenny of course. Deciding to be the responsible students, both had gone right to the library to finish their homework before the game. Harry found a good study partner in Jenny, often times the two of them could be found up to their ears in books in the corner of the library. They shared a few of the same classes since Harry took some advanced courses. Even during lunch they could be found doing classwork. It was a tactic used by many of the students considering they wanted as much free time as possible. 

Harrington had lifted the lockdown on Whitman Hall after many parents had called to complain that they only were able to see their children on the weekends and it wasn't fair. Harrington informed them that they were still on probation for the rest of the month. 

"What did you get for question 27?" Jenny asked. 

Harry ran his hands over his face in exhaustion. "I'm going back to it. I couldn't figure it out."

Jenny threw her pencil down and rubbed her eyes. "Time for a break?"

"Please." Harry nodded. Jenny procured two bananas from her school bag and offered one to Harry. Thanking her as he took he, he ripped it open and took a bite. "I think I'm too tired to chew." He spoke around his food. 

"Stop being over dramatic, you big baby. We've worked longer." Jenny laughed.

It was true. Not even a month into the semester and Harry had already pulled two all nighter. He even woke up early once to be the first in the library to get a study room. The only difference between then and now was Zayn. 

It was being proven difficult to have time alone together when you shared a triple instead of a double. Even more so when the third person was your best friend. And around ALL the time. 

Zayn had miraculously woken up first that morning, he was so warm as he wrapped himself around Harry, waking him up by kissing the back of his neck and whispering in his ear. 

"Think I'm gonna shower. Wanna join me?" And really, Harry already woke up hard, it's not like he was going to turn him down. 

Harry noticed since waking up with Zayn the previous Sunday morning that he was surprisingly clingy and cuddly first thing in the morning. When he first wakes up he instinctively pulls Harry closer to him and buries his face in his neck. Even once they get out of bed and scramble to get dressed Zayn would constantly be touching him, when they pass each other, if he needed to grab something behind Harry, he could always feel a hand skim his hip or his back. It made Harry smile to himself thinking that Zayn needed to be touching him just as much as Harry had wanted to always be touching him. 

But that morning, as Harry tested the shower water, he was pulled back against the wall. Zayn had crowded against him and kissed him intently. There was a towel rod pressing uncomfortably into his back so Harry arched his back, his bare cock rubbing against Zayn's. Zayn inhaled sharply, his hand sliding dow to Harry's ass to press him closer. 

Harry moaned softly, a little hum from the back of his throat. He could only think of how badly he wanted Zayn. Harry felt so lost in Zayn. He could feel him everywhere. He was sucking on Harry's tongue, hands gripping his ass, anticipation buzzing all the way down to his toes. His cock felt heavy as they rutted against each other. As one hand snaked into Harry's hair, the other slide down further over the curve of his cheek. Harry shuddered, wanting nothing more than to have Zayn touch him everywhere. But at that moment, he was a little disappointed when Zayn's hand gripped Harry's thigh instead. 

Zayn tilted Harry's head back by pulling his hair and kissed down his throat. Right at the base of his throat Zayn sucked at the skin, his other hand on Harry's thigh lifting his leg to wrap around him. It gave them a new angle as Zayn grinded their cocks together once again, making Harry sob out a moan. Zayn clamped a hand over his mouth. 

When Harry opened his eyes he saw Zayn staring determinedly at him. His eyebrows drawn together, mouth cracked open slightly as he breathed out in sharp breaths. 

"Gotta be quiet, right babe?" Zayn smirked. Harry helplessly nodded but moaned into his hand as he felt fingers at the head of his cock. His thighs began to twitch as Zayn ran his finger over his slit, spreading the precome around. "You're so wet. You like 'avin to sneak 'round, s'that it?"

There was something sexy about having to sneak around, Harry had to admit. Especially since they couldn't be with each other whenever they wanted, when they were it was rushed but desperate. Harry loved that desperate feeling. Of wanting so much so badly he could feel it pulling from his stomach. Factor in Zayn being the one to make him feel that way, it took everything in Harry not to beg. 

"Maybe you like risking getting caught? Door's wide open. Louis could walk right in."

Harry didn't notice that the door was open until Zayn said. The wave of panic was lost under the wave of arousal. He didn't think until then that it was something that turned him on, although it would make sense. 

More precome spilled out to which Zayn gave an appreciative smirk. He spread the rest of it over Harry before he began to jerk Harry off. It was a little dry still but Harry was so hard and Zayn was licking into his mouth once more, it was enough of a distraction. Zayn's other hand reappeared right at the top of Harry's ass. With a feather-light touch he traced over the curve of his ass again. Harry felt as if he were on fire the closer Zayn got to his rim. 

Harry wanted it. He wanted it so bad. His mouth was too busy to speak so he arched back, hoping to convey that he needed his fingers. He really wanted his cock but he could do with fingers for now. He was so close, he just needed whatever Zayn would give him. 

Zayn relented and applied a teasingly amount of pressure to Harry's rim. He circled the muscle feeling it pulse. Harry whined into Zayn's mouth and gripped his shoulders.

It didn't take much longer for Harry to completely lose it. His whine as he came was disguised by the sound of the shower. His breathing was heavy as Zayn tightened his hand, coercing the very last of his orgasm out of him. Smiling as Zayn softly planted kiss after kiss on his mouth to soothe him. 

 

Needless to say, Harry's morning had been fantastic. The school day flew by and after school he met up with Jenny. Neither had tennis practice so that gave them more time to do their homework. Harry hoped that if he worked fast enough he could repay Zayn for that morning before the game started. 

He was about to, both of them stumbling into the shower, curtain half shut, Harry already down on his knees. A minute later Louis stalked into the bathroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

"Mornin', Zayn."

"Uh-uh, mornin' Lou." Zayn held Harry's face away from his cock. Both held their breath as Louis brushed his teeth on the other side of the thin curtian. 

"This game's made me lose sleep." He spoke around his toothbrush. The two of them spoke casually, Zayn trying to hype Louis up. Harry wanted nothing more than to continue despite the interruption. 

"Hey, where's Harry?"

Harry looked up panicked. But Zayn didn't miss a beat before answering.

"Said he was going down to get breakfast, I think. Something about wanting to get to class early?"

"Cool, I'm going to run down and see if he's still there. I have to give him his ticket for tonight."

"Sounds good, mate. Save me a spot."

"Will do!" Louis shouted as they heard the door slam. A second later they heard the outer door open and slam shut as Louis left the room. Not being able to help himself, Harry began to laugh. 

"Yeah, HA-HA. Get back to it." Zayn attempted to sound stern but his face cracked with a smile. Harry only laughed harder, falling back onto the floor. The water was getting into his mouth and he couldn't keep his eyes open, but he couldn't help himself as he giggled maniacally.

"Seriously?" He heard Zayn laugh out. "You're killing my boner, Harry."

"I'm sorry," He wheezed out.

"Nah, you ruined it." Zayn shut the water off and wrapped himself in a towel.

"No wait, I'm sorry. I'll keep going." He wiped the water from his eyes, only to realize he was tearing up from laughing so much. 

"Forget it. You owe me."

 

Harry looked over to the clock hanging on the far wall of the library. It was almost game time so any hope of seeing Zayn before the game was lost. 

"Maybe we should call it a night?" Harry suggested.

"We only have a couple more problems. Don't worry we'll make it to the game." Jenny picked her pencil back up and began writing down the next problem. Harry followed suit.

On their last problem, Jenny looked over to Harry with a torn expression.

"Would you mind terribly if I asked you what was going on with Zayn?"

"Hmm?" Harry looked up, his pencil stilled on his paper. "What do you mean?

"Just," Jenny sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Been hearing that you two are getting close. Saw you guys in the common room after the game of Hide and Seek. You can tell me to bugger off, I'm just a bit of a gossip."

Harry chuckled. "I know. I'm the one you tell all the gossip to!" He closed his notebook and shrugged. "I don't really know. I mean I guess it might be heading somewhere, but he hasn't said much about it."

"Do you want it to go anywhere?"

"Yes." Harry answered quickly. He was developing feelings for Zayn, even though he knew it was a bit too quick. They whispered to each other for half the night while Louis slept on the other side of the room. Harry could listen to Zayn talk for hours and never get over how smart he was. "I just don't know if he wants the same thing. I don't want to bring it up, I mean I'm good with how things are now."

"I've known Zayn for almost four years now. And I've never actually seen him in a relationship." Jenny tilted her head in thought and then added. "He hates them actually."

"Oh." Harry's mood deflated. He didn't know Zayn felt that way about relationships. He was getting quite used to the idea of being with him romantically. "Has he just had bad experiences or," He trailed off. 

"No. He consciously avoids them. I mean he hooks up with guys for extended periods of time but, no. No exclusive, committed relationships." Jenny closed her books and began packing up. "Which is a shame because I always thought he would be so cute with a boyfriend."

"Well, he could change his mind, right?" Harry reached, feeling borderline pathetic. Jenny looked up to his face. Her eyes widened with a tinge of compassion. 

"Oh, sweetheart." He reached over the table to grab Harry's hand. "Have you caught feelings?"

"No." Harry lied. "I mean, I wouldn't say no if it was an option but,"

"But it may not be, Harry." She squeezed his hand sympathetically. "Or it may! You'll just have to play it day by day. Zayn's not a bad person, he wouldn't hurt you on purpose. He just, he just likes his fun."

That did nothing to make Harry feel better. He didn't want to be just another person's 'fun' that they had.

"I've done the whole 'fun' thing. I don't want that anymore." Jenny let go of his hand so he could put his book away. "It's pointless to me. I just want to be in a relationship again. It's nice, being in one, you know."

Jenny's face scrunched the way Louis' did when he had something honest to say but knows it wasn't what someone wanted to hear. It was remorseful and almost pained, but no amount of remorse would stop them from saying it. If there was one thing the Tomlinson twins did without fail, it was say what was on their mind. 

"I'm not saying Zayn wouldn't, I'm just saying it's not like him. If you want my advice- I know you don't but I'm going to bloody say it, either go along with Zayn, have your fun, then when you're done you can look for an actual boyfriend."

"Or?"

"Or, you can stop this now. If you feel yourself wanting to be in a relationship with him you're already in too deep. Just save yourself, basically. We can go out to bars or if you've got an eye on someone else, I'm one hell of a wingman." Jenny proudly winked at him. Harry smiled at her. Maybe she was right, maybe Zayn just wanted a no strings attached set up and that's not what Harry wanted to get caught up in. 

"Okay. Maybe we can do that. I don't want Zayn if he doesn't want me."

"We'll get you your Prince, Harry, don't you worry."

As the pair left the library, Harry's phone rang with a text message. He opened it to see that it was from Zayn.

"Zayn says he's saved us a spot. Right up at the front of the bleachers."

"Ah, what a gentleman." She said amused. "Harry, you must have a magic dick because I've never seen Zayn be so nice."

"Jen!" Harry looked around to see if anyone had heard. The only people around were too far out of ear shot. 

"Sorry! Sorry!" Jenny linked their arms as they walked down the path to the stadium. "We can drop our things at my place, it's on the way."

***

Zayn had finished his work in the administration office early. Instead of playing a sport, he had begged him mum to call the school to excuse him from any physical activity. Of course, it being his mum, she negotiated for labor in lieu of sports. Harrington had agreed, therefore Zayn stayed an hour after class every other day to file paper work or meander about, completing random jobs until his hour was up. 

He met up with Niall who, like Zayn didn't participate in any sport. But unlike himself, Niall had a medical reason, a knee surgery that kept him from any extensive activities. Niall did however act as a manager for the football team. Not being able to play anymore didn't stop him from being involved. 

He sat with Niall and watched the team practice. He passed some time by calling home and talking to his two younger sisters. Being in primary school, they always had something to ramble on to their older brother about. From school trips to bake sales to being awarded Student of the Month, Zayn listened with unwavering fascination hoping his once a week phone call home was enough. He wanted to be there for his family, especially his little sisters because they weren't afraid to let Zayn know that he wasn't there enough. 

After talking to Waliyha, Safaa commandeered the phone. While listening to a grotesquely descriptive story about Safaa's nosebleed from getting hit in the face with a wiffle ball during P.E, Zayn spotted Marcus running around on the field. He'd changed a lot since freshman year. Lost all of his baby weight, his face was more defined. He grew up well, Zayn had to admit. Too bad he was a dickhead. 

"Zayn, ZAYN!" Zayn snapped back to his conversation with his sister.

"Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Guess what I'm going to be for Halloween!" Safaa loved Halloween. His whole family did, really. Everyone always put a lot of thought into their costumes. Then they would all go to the local bar where they held costume contests. Zayn's older sister Doniya would always win because she was so good with make up. When Zayn was younger, he and Doniya would trade sweets. They would always get in trouble for switching out the sweets they didn't like with the good ones from Waliyha and Safaa's after they went to sleep. One time Zayn even had his whole Trick-or-Treat bag taken away, only getting one sweet a day. As bitter as Zayn was at the time, he did rub it in Doniya's face when his sweets lasted him until Christmas whereas hers didn't make it two weeks. 

"No clue, Saf. What are you going to be?"

"Beetlejuice!" 

"Beetlejuice?! You're not going to be Frozen like every other girl in your school?" Zayn laughed. Leave it to her to stand out. 

"Frozen is the movie, Zaynie, everyone wants to be Elsa. She's in the movie." Safaa explained as if she had told him a thousand times already.

"Right, right. Well Beetlejuice should be a cool costume. Have mum send me lots of pictures. What is everyone else going to be?"

"Umm, I don't know what Doniyah and Mum and Daddy are going to be but Waliyha's going to be Minnie Mouse and Charlie is going to be Mickey Mouse, and my friend Ruth-"

"Hold on, hold on." Zayn interrupted. "Who's Charlie?"

Safaa giggled on the other end. "Shhh! Don't tell her I told you. I wasn't supposed to tell you."

"Safaa what's going on?"

"Ummm, Waliyha has a boyfriend."

"No Waliyha does not. Waliyha is eleven." No way did his little sister have a boyfriend. She was a baby! What does an eleven year old know about relationships? Waliyha was lucky Zayn lived hours away. When he went home for winter break he was going to have a good talk with his sister. All of them for that matter, even Doniya although she was older than Zayn. He'd lecture them all. Maybe lock them in their rooms until they were 40. 

"Yes she does! Don't tell but I saw them kissing yesterday." Safaa whispered into the receiver. Zayn was ready to kill. 

"Saf, get Waliyha, please."

"Noo! She had her turn to talk, it's my time!" She whined. Zayn relented, he couldn't deny her time on the phone with him. 

"Fine. But tell her I need to talk to her."

"Is she in trouble?"

"Yes."

"Because she has a boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"Do you know that I'm in love?"

"What?!" What was going on back home? His sisters were rioting it seemed. Zayn massaged his templed; girls were impossible. He would be grateful for being gay but boys were impossible too. "Saf, d'you even know what love is?"

"Yes!" She yelled defensively. 

"How?! I don't even know what it is."

"Boys are stupid that's why."

"Well, you got something right." Zayn didn't really expect to bond over stupid boys with his seven year old sister. He thought he would have a good ten more years. Twenty if he was being optimistic. "Who are you in love with then?"

"This boy from the playground. We always plays tag with all the other kids and he always tags me. Sara said it was because he loves me. So I always tag him so he knows I love him, too."

Zayn shook with laughter. If only it were that easy. "Saf, please don't grow up too soon. You're my baby, this conversation is slowly killing me."

"I'm not a baby, Zayn. I'm a woman." Safaa proudly declared. Zayn laughed to hid his internal pain. Sometimes Safaa really was a tiny woman. 

"Okay then woman, listen here, I'm going to go get something to eat so I have to go. I love you, tell everyone I love them." 

Safaa promised and they hung up. Zayn was still uncomfortable with Waliyha having a boyfriend. He would have to talk to their father later. There was no way he would allow it. Not thinking too much into it for his own sanity, Zayn made his way to the dining hall for a quick bite. He went back to the stadium figuring he should secure a seat for him and his friends. Well Harry. But Harry no doubt would bring a crowd with him. 

Sure enough, minutes before the game started, Harry showed up with Jen and some more friends. Zayn had no idea what to make of Harry. He was doing his head in. For the first time Zayn wasn't feeling smothered by someone. Instead he wanted to be smothered. Waking up next to him and rushed blow jobs before Louis could wake up were far from enough. It was becoming obsessive, Zayn knew. But every time he looked at Harry, he would think of his smile. The one that was all teeth and dimples. The one he wouldn't realize he was mirroring until his cheeks felt sore from smiling for so long. 

It wasn't enough to have those talks with him while they were falling asleep. Talking about everything aside from the inevitable. The giant elephant in the room that he knew Harry wanted to talk about but Zayn was grateful he didn't bring up. Because if it was, Zayn wouldn't have an answer that wouldn't hurt Harry. He was used to this was the thing, this honeymoon phase if he had to call it something. All touching, grabbing, kissing, coming, never getting enough of each other phase. That was the excitement, the magnetic cohesion that makes you feel like you're flying. Zayn loved that part. 

It was the falling, the harsh reality when flaws presented themselves, the difficult decisions that Zayn knew he couldn't make, that was what hurt. That had all the potential to destroy Zayn from the inside out. So he never let it. 

As harmless as Harry seemed, Zayn had never seen more red flags fly in front of his face. Warnings that he side stepped. Because Zayn learned from experience, he always had. A small secret part of him wanted to prove, and be proven wrong. But Zayn never knew how he was going to act until he was confronted with something. More times than not, he hadn't reacted well. 

But in that moment Zayn reacted by lifting an arm to signal Harry. Very casually, as he didn't want to come across as too eager. Harry spotted him and his face split into one of his devastating smiles as he lead Jenny and the group to where Zayn as sitting. 

"Hi, Zayn. Thank for saving seats for us." Harry still smiled as he sat beside him. Zayn had gotten some nasty looks for taking up a good chunk of the first few rows but he wanted to have a good time with his friends. With Harry. 

"No problem, babe. Game's 'bout to start. Could you have been any more late?"

Harry huffed as he adjusted the scarf around his neck. "We were only supposed to drop off our books at Jen's room. But Dahlia and Jaqi wanted us to wait for them. Then Karina and Michelle decided they wanted to go but had to fix their make up first. Daniel and George ran into the girls dorms to use the loo because the ones here would be packed so we waited for them, too. Everyone else we met at the gates." 

Zayn rolled his eyes as he snuck an arm around him. "Well, at least you're here now."

Harry immediately leaned into him, making himself comfortable. The game started with Genesis taking control of the ball. 

By the second half of the game, Avalon had just caught up to Genesis making them tied 2-2. With little time left in the game all the fans in the stands were up on their feet with nervous anticipation. People, including Zayn and his friends, all lined up at the railing of the bleachers. Louis was dribbling the ball down the field just as Landon slid in to make a steal. Louis ended up tripping over Landon, kicking him in the head, and landed painfully on his shoulder. 

Jenny slapped her hands over her face, not being able to bear seeing if her brother was hurt. Zayn always wondered if they had that twin telepathy thing. Where one twin was able to feel the others physical pain. He knew it worked with emotions. If Jenny was having a bad day, Louis would be antsy without knowing. But Jenny didn't seem hurt, only sympathetic. Maybe a little too much. As the refs and coaches rushed over to Louis and Landon, Jenny grabbed Zayn's arm. 

"I can't watch. Come get something to drink with me?"

"Sure." Right before he took a step, he saw that kid Harry had been talking to in the common room before and after the game. Sal, Steve, or whatever waved to Harry. As Harry waved back, Zayn impulsively reacted by crowding behind him, trapping him in.

"Going to get something to drink with Jen want anything?" Zayn knew he didn't have to be glued to Harry to ask him a question. But he didn't like Sal/Steve, so he had a point to make. 

Harry was none the wiser as he tilted his head back. "Um, I'll just have whatever you're having. Thanks."

Without even looking to see if Sal/Steve was looking, Zayn placed a small, but purposeful kiss to Harry's mouth. When he pulled back he could see that Harry was a little flushed. Most likely not used to any public display of affection. Whenever they kissed before, they were always alone. 

"Be right back." Zayn mumbled his promise. He stepped away from Harry and walked with Jenny down the length of the bleachers. Purposefully avoiding Jenny's curious stare. However once they reached the line to the concession stand, Jenny pounced. 

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Zayn played dumb. He kicked at a crack in the ground, not looking at Jenny. Getting into an argument with Jenny was a lot worse than getting into and argument with Louis. Louis was loud and impulsive, Jenny was meticulous and calculating. 

"Something going on with Harry?" She pushed. Zayn wasn't looking at her face but if he had to guess from her tone, she had a pursed expression, the one that made her look so much like her brother. 

Zayn shrugged. "No, nothing really."

Jen exhaled a harsh laugh. "Zayn, you can fool Lou, you can fool Harry- you can definitely fool Harry, the poor sap. But you can't fool yourself, or me."

"You and Louis are unbelievable. You really are the same person." He said looking up, finally. "You just keep digging and digging when there isn't anything there. Just let us 'ave fun, will ya?"

When Jen raised her eyebrow she looked so much like her mother that Zayn almost folded and wished he could take back his outburst. 

"Zayn." Jen crossed her arms, Zayn opened his mouth to apologize but Jen cut him off. "There's a reason Lou and I are so wrapped up in what's going on with you two."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. You've been like a brother to us from the moment we met. We just want what's best for you. Sorry if it seems like we're coddling you, but we can't help it." Jen's face softened. Zayn relaxed a little knowing she wasn't mad at him like Louis had been since he found out Zayn took an interest in Harry. "And I literally look at Harry as my son, as weird as that is."

They laughed but Zayn could definitely see it. Jen and Harry had gotten really close over the past month. And Harry in general just brought out that side of people. They wanted to protect him. He wasn't incompetent or anything, he could definitely take care of himself, but he wasn't confrontational and that could lead to the wrong kind of person mistreating him. It didn't occur to Zayn until that moment that he was that kind of person that Lou, and now Jen had been trying to protect Harry from. And it stung. Because Zayn wanted to protect Harry, too. 

"You think I'm gonna love 'em and leave 'em?" Zayn asked numbly.

Jen shrugged. "It doesn't mean you're a bad person, you like what you like, you're entitled to that. But Harry flat out told me he wants a relationship. It's not fair to him, either be what he wants you to be or let him go so he can find someone else."

Zayn nodded along dumbly. Not finding any words. He didn't want to see Harry with anyone else. That was the frustrating part. 

"But judging by how you got all territorial back there, I don't think you want to see him with someone else." Jen smirked as if she read Zayn's mind. He was glad someone was getting a kick out of it because his head was spinning with decisions. "Sam likes him, he told me. He's roomies with the guy I've been talking to."

"Sam?" Great. Now there was someone else Zayn had to watch out for. 

Jen look at him stupidly. "Yeah, Sam. The football player from Genesis. You look at him like you want to sacrifice his first born child?"

"Oh! That's his name." So it was Sam. He didn't care if it was Sam, Sal, or Steve none of them would get near Harry. He'd rather see Harry with a girl. He'd rather see Harry with Jen. 

Jen giggled. "Calm down, caveman." She sobered up before speaking again. "Just please, make good choices, yeah? Harry's a really good guy. Lou and I, we just want to see everyone happy. Our childhood wasn't that fun, with our parents always fighting, we grew up just wanting the people around us to be happy."

Zayn knew how difficult their childhood had been. Their parents eventually sought counseling and were now better than ever, but before that their fights got really heated and very nasty. Louis always had to be the center of attention because of it and Jen can't stand the sound of people yelling. Which was another reason she got so antsy when she went to Louis' games. It was all too loud. 

"You guys are making me feel like the big, bad wolf. I want everyone to be happy, too. I just don't think getting a boyfriend would make me, though."

"But how would you know!" Jen sang as she intertwined their arms. She never shied away from trying to get Zayn a boyfriend. She wanted it more than he did. "You would have someone to hold your hand, and you could kiss them whenever you wanted. You'd have someone to look out for and would look out for you and you could fall asleep together, and you'd always know that he's never too far away."

"I already have that with Harry." He argued. Until he realized Jen had him exactly where she wanted him.

"So you admit Harry's kind of like your boyfriend."

"What? No, that's not what I meant." Zayn back peddled. Fucking Jedi, Yoda, mind fuck ninja. He fell right into Jen's trap. 

"Yes it was. Come on what's the only difference?"

"He's not my boyfriend." Mercifully, Zayn and Jen were next in line. Zayn ordered two waters and a pretzel for him and Harry to split. But not because Zayn was looking out for him, just because Harry had been doing homework all afternoon and when he did that he almost always forgot to grab something to eat because he doesn't look up from his books. But Zayn was just looking out for him as a friend. Friends were allowed to do that. Except friends didn't put their dick's in each others mouths. For fuck's sake. Zayn was getting a head ache. 

As they were waiting for their orders, Jen continued.

"But just think about it. What would actually change?"

"Jen!" He groaned. He honestly couldn't think about it anymore. He was getting so overwhelmed he was about to say 'Fuck it' to everything and go back to the dorm to nap. That was how he solved all his stressful problems; sleep. "I don't know, okay? And I don't want to find out. Can we please just stop talking about it?"

Jenny looked like she was far from done about the subject but she relented, raising both hands in the air in surrender. 

"Fine." She grabbed her bottled of water as Zayn grabbed his order. They walked back to stands, weaving their way through the people. When they rejoined their friends, Zayn handed Harry his water and offered him some of his pretzel. Jen gave a face of complete smugness that Zayn pretended to ignore. 

At the last second, Louis managed to pass the ball from between two defensive players to Nate from Zayn's computer class and score the winning goal. The home team cheered red and black signs and people celebrating in the stands.

Zayn forced any thought that wasn't about that moment exactly, out of his mind. Letting himself get caught up in the electric atmosphere, the excitement washing over him until he forgot all the reasons why he shouldn't put an arm around Harry and pull him close. Only thinking that in that one moment, nothing else mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 1:30 in the morning and my eyes hurt. However if you want to chat fic, 1D, or anything you can find me at itsabattle-cry.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think and if you would like to see where I go with this!!
> 
> Talk to me over at itsabattle-cry.tumblr.com


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